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ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
AND  THE  JEWS 


BY  ISAAC  MARKENS 

AUTHOR   OF 

"THE  HEBREWS  IN  AMERICA" 


NEW  YORK 
PRINTED  FOR  THE  AUTHOR 

COPYRIGHT,  1909 
BY  ISAAC  MARKENS 


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LINCOLN  AND  THE  JEWS. 

Since  the  name  of  Abraham  Lincoln  has  been  linked  with 
no  stirring  event  in  connection  with  American  Judaism  it 
follows  that  the  subject  "  Lincoln  and  the  Jews,"  may  possibly 
be  lacking  in  the  essentials  demanding  treatment  at  the  hands 
of  the  critical  historian.  Nevertheless,  as  a  student  of  the 
great  war  President  the  writer  has  been  impressed  by  the  vast 
amount  of  interesting  material  bearing  upon  his  relations  to 
the  Jews,  which  it  occurs  to  him  is  worthy  of  compilation  and 
preservation.  A  contribution  of  this  character  seems  specially 
fitting  at  the  present  time  in  view  of  the  centenary  of  the  one 
whose  gaunt  figure  towers  above  all  others  in  the  galaxy  of 
American  heroes — "  the  first  of  our  countrymen  to  reach  the 
lonely  heights  of  immortal  fame." 

The  Jews  of  the  United  States  formed  but  a  small  portion 
of  the  population  in  Lincoln's  time.  The  President  of  the 
Board  of  Delegates  of  American  Israelites,  their  representa 
tive  organization,  estimated  their  number  in  the  loyal  States 
near  the  close  of  1861  at  not  less  than  200,000,  which  figures 
are  now  regarded  as  excessive.  The  Kev.  Isaac  Leeser  as  late 
as  1865  could  not  figure  the  entire  Jewish  population  of  the 
United  States  as  exceeding  200,000,  although  he  admitted 
that  double  that  number  had  been  estimated  by  others. 

Political  sentiment  was  then  divided  and  found  expression 
largely  through  the  Occident,  a  monthly,  published  by  Eev. 
Isaac  Leeser  in  Philadelphia ;  the  Jewish  Messenger,  a  weekly, 
conducted  by  Eev.  Samuel  M.  Isaacs  in  New  York,  and  the 
Israelite,  a  weekly,  edited  by  Eev.  Isaac  M.  Wise  in  Cincin 
nati.  Eabbis  and  laymen  of  learning  and  eloquence  were 

3 


conspicuous  in  the  political  arena,  both  by  voice  and  pen  and 
to  some  of  these  we  shall  refer.  Arrayed  with  the  party  rep 
resented  by  Lincoln  was  Rabbi  David  Einhorn,  who  published 
in  Baltimore  a  German  monthly  called  Sinai,  devoted  to  the 
anti-slavery  movement.  Rabbi  Isaacs  unreservedly  favored 
the  preservation  of  the  Union  and  the  policy  of  Lincoln. 
In  Philadelphia  Rabbi  Sabato  Morais  proved  such  a  potential 
factor  in  rousing  patriotic  sentiment  that  he  was  elected  an 
honorary  member  of  the  Union  League  Club  of  that  city. 
Rabbi  Liebman  Adler  of  Chicago,  besides  patriotic  appeals  to 
his  countrymen,  sent  his  only  son  to  serve  in  the  ranks  of  an 
Illinois  regiment.  Dr.  Abraham  B.  Arnold  of  Baltimore, 
arrayed  himself  with  the  Republican  party  on  the  election  of 
Lincoln  and  was  made  a  member  of  the  State  Executive  Com 
mittee  of  Maryland.  A  former  Assistant  United  States  Dis 
trict  Attorney  of  New  York,  Philip  J.  Joachimsen,  who  had 
secured  the  first  conviction  for  slave  trading,  was  a  warm 
admirer  of  Lincoln  and  raised  a  regiment  of  troops  which 
rendered  good  service. 

The  pro-slavery  faction,  by  no  means  insignificant  in  num 
bers,  had  few  leaders,  their  most  earnest  advocate  being  Rabbi 
Morris  J.  Raphall,  of  New  York,  author  of  Post-Biblical 
History  of  the  Jews.  In  a  pamphlet  entitled  Bible  View  of 
Slavery,  published  shortly  after  Lincoln's  election,  he  sought 
to  show  that  the  "Divine  Institution3'  had  Scriptural  sanc 
tion,  a  proposition  by  no  means  original,  Rev.  Leander  Ker  of 
Missouri  having  taken  the  same  ground  as  early  as  1853  in  a 
book,  Slavery  Sanctioned  by  the  Bible.  Mr.  Leeser,  while 
sustaining  Raphall,  deplored  his  utterances  as  untimely,  and 
Michael  Heilprin  in  an  article  in  the  New  York  Tribune  com 
pletely  demonstrated  the  fallacy  of  Raphall's  contention. 

Writing  from  Philadelphia  to  the  Israelite  en  January  13, 
1861,  Rabbi  Wise  said  it  was  "not  so  much  the  election  of 
Lincoln  in  itself  that  threatened  the  destruction  of  the  Union 
as  the  speeches  of  Lincoln  and  his  colleagues  on  the  irre- 


pressible  conflict  doctrine."  This  was  coupled  with  a  tribute 
to  President  Buchanan,  the  then  occupant  of  the  White  House, 
who  from  Rabbi  Wise's  standpoint  "  has  shown  himself  to  be 
a  full  statesman  and  only  now  are  the  North  appreciating 
his  conservative  administration."  While  deprecating  the 
threatened  dissolution  of  the  Union  Eabbi  Wise  indulged  in 
frequent  humorous  flings  at  Lincoln  after  his  election,  com 
paring  him  to  "  a  country  squire  who  would  look  queer  in  the 
White  House  with  his  primitive  manner/'  He  also  protested 
against  his  entertainment  while  passing  through  Cincinnati 
on  his  way  to  Washington.  Later  on  his  admiration  for  Lin 
coln  was  unbounded.  In  the  course  of  an  address  following 
the  President's  death  and  published  in  the  Cincinnati  Com 
mercial  of  April  20,  1865,  he  thus  attempted  to  prove  that 
he  was  one  of  the  chosen  people :  "  Abraham  Lincoln  believed 
himself  to  be  bone  of  our  bone  and  flesh  of  our  flesh.  He 
supposed  himself  to  be  of  Hebrew  parentage,  he  said  so  in  my 
presence,  and  indeed  he  possessed  the  common  features  of  the 
Hebrew  race  both  in  countenance  and  features."  As  a  matter 
of  fact  Lincoln's  knowledge  of  his  ancestry  was  vague — so 
much  so  that  his  statement  to  Dr.  Wise  must  be  accepted  as 
nothing  more  than  a  bit  of  pleasantry.  Hon.  Robert  T.  Lin 
coln  states  in  reply  to  an  inquiry  of  the  writer,  that  he  had 
"never  before  heard  that  his  father  supposed  he  had  any 
Jewish  ancestry." 

Lincoln's  policy  was  severely  attacked  in  the  California 
State  Convention  of  the  Breckinridge  party  held  at  Sacra 
mento  on  June  11,  1861,  by  Solomon  Heydenfeldt,  a  brilliant 
jurist  of  that  State  and  a  native  of  South  Carolina.  An 
example  of  his  attitude  appears  in  the  published  proceedings 
of  that  convention,  wherein  he  refers  in  the  course  of  the 
debates  to  "  the  Democrats  of  the  Eastern  States  struggling 
against  the  tyranny  of  the  administration,  their  voices  being 
drowned  by  the  music  of  Lincoln's  drums." 


President  Lincoln's  administration  was  marked  by  a  few 
noteworthy  incidents  affecting  the  Jews  as  a  body,  the  most 
important  being  the  appointment  of  a  Jewish  chaplain  in 
1861-62,  and  the  proposed  expulsion  of  the  Jews  "  as  a  class  " 
from  within  the  lines  of  General  Grant's  army  in  1862-63. 
Here  it  may  be  proper  to  note  that  the  President  on  two 
occasions  was  sharply  reproved  by  the  Jews  for  the  objection 
able  phraseology  of  his  State  papers. 

In  his  first  inaugural  orders  he  declared: 

Intelligence,  patriotism,  Christianity,  and  a  firm  reliance  on 
Him  who  has  never  yet  forsaken  this  favored  land  are  still  com 
petent  to  adjust  in  the  best  way  our  present  difficulty. 

In  his  "  General  Order  Eespecting  the  Observation  of  the 
Sabbath  Day  in  the  Army  and  Navy,"  issued  November  15, 
1862,  he  announced: 

The  importance  for  man  and  beast  of  the  prescribed  weekly 
rest,  the  sacred  rights  of  Christian  soldiers  and  sailors,  a  becom 
ing  deference  to  the  best  sentiments  of  a  Christian  people,  and  a 
due  regard  for  the  Divine  will  demand  that  Sunday  labor  in  the 
Army  and  Navy  be  reduced  to  the  measure  of  strict  necessity. 

This  order  provoked  more  or  less  public  discussion  and 
elicited  a  lengthy  address  to  the  President  from  one  B. 
Behrend,  of  Narrowsburg,  N.  Y.,  the  father  of  a  Jewish  soldier 
in  the  service,  on  the  ground  that  "  thousands  in  the  army 
who  celebrate  another  day  as  Sunday  should  be  allowed  to 
celebrate  that  day  which  they  think  is  the  right  day  according 
to  their  own  consciences."  The  Occident  shared  in  these  views 
and  urged  that  Jewish  soldiers  should  be  free  from  unneces 
sary  work  on  their  Sabbath.  While  the  alleged  sectarian 
character  of  these  compositions  subjected  the  President  to 
considerable  criticism,  his  utterances  were  soon  lost  sight  of 
in  the  more  stirring  events  of  the  day. 

In  the  United  States  Senate  May  22,  1860,  Judah  P.  Benja 
min  spoke  in  scathing  terms  of  Stephen  A.  Douglas  and 


lauded  Lincoln,  the  question  under  consideration  being  certain 
measures  introduced  by  Jefferson  Davis  on  the  subject  of 
State  Eights  and  Slavery.  Benjamin's  address  on  this  occa 
sion  occupies  several  pages  of  the  Congressional  Globe,  1859- 
60,  Part  III.  The  Senator  from  Louisiana  therein  charged 
Douglas  with  inconsistency  and  evasion  in  his  debates  with 
Lincoln,  referred  to  his  Jonesboro  address  as  "  nonsense  "  and 
says  Douglas  copied  from  Lincoln's  dispute  with  him.  Lin 
coln  had  just  been  nominated  for  the  Presidency.  The 
nomination  of  Douglas  was  still  in  the  balance.  How  far  he 
had  lost  caste  with  the  Southern  leaders  is  evidenced  by  this 
excoriation  by  Benjamin : 

I  have  been  obliged  to  pluck  down  my  idol  from  his  place  on 
high,  and  to  refuse  him  any  more  support  or  confidence  as  a 
member  of  the  Democratic  party.  His  adversary  stood  upon  prin 
ciple  and  was  beaten,  and  lo!  he  is  a  candidate  of  a  mighty  party 
for  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States.  One  stood  on  principle — 
was  defeated.  To-day  where  stands  he?  The  other  faltered — 
received  the  prize,  but  to-day  where  stands  he?  He  is  a  fallen 
star;  we  have  separated  from  him. 

Eeferring  further  to  the  joint  debates  and  more  especially 
to  Lincoln's  declarations  at  Freeport  in  reply  to  interroga 
tions  of  Douglas,  regarding  his  position  in  the  slavery  ques 
tion,  he  further  complimented  Lincoln  in  these  words : 

In  that  contest,  the  candidates  for  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States  in  the  State  of  Illinois  went  before  the  people.  They 
agreed  to  discuss  the  issue;  they  put  questions  to  each  other 
for  answer,  and  I  must  say  here,  for  I  must  be  just  to  all, 
that  I  have  been  surprised  in  the  examination  that  I  have  made 
again  within  the  last  few  days  of  this  discussion  between  Mr. 
Lincoln  and  Mr.  Douglas,  to  find  that  Mr.  Lincoln  is  a  far  more 
conservative  man,  unless  he  has  since  changed  his  opinions,  than 
I  had  supposed  him  to  be.  There  was  no  dodging  on  his  part.  It 
is  impossible  not  to  admire  the  perfect  candor  and  frankness 
with  which  his  answers  are  given — no  equivocation,  no  evasion. 


THE  APPOINTMENT  or  A  JEWISH  ARMY  CHAPLAIN. 

The  Jewish  Chaplain  question  was  a  matter  of  some  signifi 
cance  and  grew  out  of  the  refusal  of  Secretary  of  War  Simon 
Cameron  in  the  fall  of  1861  to  grant  the  application  of  Eev. 
Dr.  Arnold  Fischel  for  appointment  as  Chaplain  of  the 
Cameron  Dragoons,  a  New  York  regiment  largely  composed 
of  Jews,  Fischel  being  informed  by  Cameron  that  favorable 
consideration  of  his  application  was  impossible  on  account  of 
an  Act  passed  by  Congress  a  few  months  previous  and  duly 
approved  by  the  President,  which  provided  that  "chaplains 
must  be  regular  ordained  ministers  of  some  Christian  denomi 
nation." 

This  barrier  to  the  appointment  of  a  Chaplain  gave  rise  to 
a  widespread  agitation  in  which,  many  prominent  men  took 
part,  including  Lewis  N.  Dembitz,  of  Louisville,  who  had 
voted  for  Lincoln  in  the  Eepublican  National  Convention  of 
1860;  Alfred  T.  Jones,  of  Philadelphia;  Joseph  Abrahams, 
of  Cincinnati;  Jacob  Kantrowitz,  of  Columbus,  Ind. ;  Felix 
Deutsch,  of  Franklin,  Ind.;  B.  Fleischmann,  of  Iowa  City; 
Martin  Bijur,  of  Louisville;  S.  Eosenthal,  of  Albany,  N.  Y., 
and  Eev.  B.  H.  Gotthelf,  of  Louisville.  They  demanded  that 
the  Act  of  Congress  be  made  to  conform  with  their  plain  con 
stitutional  rights,  "  those  rights  "  they  urged  "  for  which  the 
bones  of  many  of  our  brethren  in  faith  are  now  mouldering 
on  the  banks  of  the  Potomac."  The  New  York  Journal  of 
Commerce  and  Baltimore  Clipper  sided  with  the  Jews. 

At  this  juncture  the  Board  of  Delegates  of  American  Israel 
ites  took  up  the  matter  and  through  Senator  Ira  Harris  and 
Eepresentative  Frederick  Conkling,  both  of  New  York,  peti 
tioned  Congress,  protesting  that  the  existing  Act  was  "  preju 
dicial  discrimination  against  a  patriotic  class  of  citizens  on 
account  of  their  religious  belief"  and  demanding  its  repeal. 
At  the  same  time  they  addressed  the  President  urging  the 
appointment  of  a  Jewish  Chaplain  to  each  of  the  military 


9 


departments.  This  the  President  was  unable  to  do,  declaring 
his  intention,  however,  to  recommend  Congress  to  modify  the 
law  as  it  stood.  Dr.  Fischel  spent  some  time  in  Washington 
endeavoring  to  secure  the  repeal  of  the  objectionable  law. 

On  December  11,  1861,  he  reported  to  the  Board  of  Dele 
gates  the  result  of  his  efforts  thus  far.  This  is  printed  in  the 
article,  "  A  Jewish  Army  Chaplain,"  by  Myer  S.  Isaacs,  Pub 
lications  of  the  American  Jewish  Historical  Society,  No.  12, 
1904. 

On  the  following  day  Dr.  Fischel  again  called  at  the  White 
House  in  accordance  with  the  President's  invitation  but  failed 
to  see  him.  On  December  14,  1861,  the  President  wrote  to 
Dr.  Fischel : 

EXECUTIVE  MANSION,  December  14,  1861. 
Rev.  Dr.  A.  Fischel. 

MY  DEAE  SIR:  I  find  that  there  are  several  particulars  in  which 
the  present  law  in  regard  to  Chaplains  is  supposed  to  be  deficient, 
all  of  which  I  now  design  presenting  to  the  appropriate  Com 
mittee  of  Congress.  I  shall  try  to  have  a  new  law  broad  enough 
to  cover  what  is  desired  by  you  in  behalf  of  the  Israelites. 

Yours  truly, 

A.  LINCOLN. 

The  proceedings  which  followed  in  Congress  were  without 
noteworthy  incident.  Mr.  Trumbull  of  Illinois  at  the  request 
of  Rabbi  Isidor  Kalisch,  of  Indianapolis,  presented  a  numer 
ously  signed  petition  in  the  Senate  and  J.  Friedenreich,  of 
Baltimore,  secured  7000  signatures,  mostly  of  Christians  to 
another.  Numerous  members  of  the  Legislature  of  Maryland 
also  memorialized  Congress  urging  a  change  in  the  existing 
law.  Isaac  Leeser  of  Philadelphia  also  addressed  a  letter  to 
the  President.  Final  action  by  Congress  was  deferred  until 
March  12,  1862,  when  the  Act  was  amended  so  as  to  authorize 
the  employment  of  Brigade  Chaplains,  "  one  or  more  of  which 
shall  be  of  the  Catholic,  Protestant  or  Jewish  religion."  Mean 
while  Dr.  Fischel  conducted  services  for  the  Jewish  Hospital 
in  Virginia  until  April,  1862.  Subsequently  the  President 


10 


appointed  as  Hospital  Chaplains  Eev.  Jacob  Frankel,  of 
Philadelphia;  Kev.  B.  H.  Gotthelf,  of  Louisville,  and  Dr. 
Ferdinand  Sarner  of  the  54th  New  York  Infantry.  Dr. 
Sabato  Morais,  of  Philadelphia,  had  previously  declined  an 
appointment  as  Chaplain. 

Dr.  Kalisch,  in  the  third  year  of  the  war,  aspired  to  a 
chaplaincy,  his  sponsor  being  Adolph  Dessar,  a  prominent 
citizen  of  Indianapolis,  and  a  close  friend  of  John  P.  Usher, 
Secretary  of  the  Interior  in  Lincoln's  cabinet.  Mr.  Usher's 
efforts  were  unavailing  as  appears  from  the  following  letter: 

DEPARTMENT  OF  THE  INTERIOR, 

WASHINGTON,  October  16,  1863. 
Ad.  Dessar,  Esq. 

DEAR  SIR:  I  made  inquiry  of  the  President  to-day  respecting 
the  appointment  of  Post  Chaplain,  and  was  advised  by  him  that 
the  public  service  did  not  at  present  require  the  appointment  of 
any  more;  but  that  if  occasion  should  happen  requiring  the  ap 
pointment  of  additional  chaplains  he  should  be  happy  to  consider, 
with  the  many  other  applications,  the  claims  of  your  friend,  Rev. 
Mr.  Isidore  Kalisch. 

Very  truly  yours, 

J.  P.  USHER. 

GENERAL  GRANT'S  ORDER  No.  ELEVEN. 

The  edict  of  General  Grant,  known  as  Order  No.  11,  exclud 
ing  the  Jews,  as  a  class,  from  within  the  lines  of  his  army, 
naturally  aroused  a  storm  of  indignation.  Grant's  first  mani 
festo  appeared  at  Lagrange,  Tenn.,  on  November  9,  1862,  in 
the  form  of  instructions  to  Gen.  Hurlbut  to  refuse  all  permits 
to  come  south  of  Jackson,  Tenn.,  adding  "  the  Israelites  espe 
cially  should  be  kept  out."  He  next  issued  orders  to  Gen. 
Webster,  referring  to  the  Jews  as  "  an  intolerable  nuisance." 
He  also  reported  to  the  War  Department  that  "  the  Jews  roam 
through  the  country  contrary  to  the  government  regulations." 
Finally  on  December  17  he  issued  a  general  order  expelling 
all  Jews  as  a  class  "  from  his  Department  within  24  hours." 

Cincinnati  and  Paducah  became  the  storm  centres  of  the 


11 


Jewish  uprisings  mainly  by  reason  of  their  proximity  to 
Grant's  field  of  operations,  and  the  agitation  eventually  ex 
tended  to  the  halls  of  Congress.  Eabbi  Wise,  in  the  Israelite, 
demanded  the  recall  of  the  order  on  the  ground  that  "the 
President  had  an  oath  registered  in  Heaven  to  enforce  the 
laws/'  and  he  urged  that  justice  should  be  demanded  from  the 
chief  magistrate  of  the  country.  Capt.  Ferdinand  Levy,  of 
Company  H,  Battalion  New  York  Volunteers,  wrote  to  The 
Jewish  Messenger  urging  that  the  President  compel  General 
Grant  to  apologize  or  dismiss  him  from  the  service. 

While  the  Jews  of  Cincinnati,  under  the  lead  of  Eabbi  I.  M. 
Wise  were  devising  means  to  reach  the  President,  their  co 
religionists  at  Paducah  were  equally  active.  After  several  con 
ferences  they  transmitted  the  following  appeal  to  the  Presi 
dent,  the  signers  being  among  the  leading  merchants  of  the 
town. 

PADUCAH,  KY.,  Dec.  29,  1862. 
Hon.  Abraham  Lincoln,  President  of  the  United  States. 

General  Order  No.  11  issued  by  General  Grant  at  Oxford,  Miss., 
December  the  17th,  commands  all  post  commanders  to  expel  all 
Jews  without  distinction  within  twenty-four  hours  from  his 
entire  Department.  The  undersigned  good  and  loyal  citizens  of 
the  United  States  and  residents  of  this  town,  for  many  years 
engaged  in  legitimate  business  as  merchants,  feel  greatly  insulted 
and  outraged  by  this  inhuman  order;  the  carrying  out  of  which 
would  be  the  grossest  violation  of  the  Constitution  and  our  rights 
as  good  citizens  under  it,  and  would  place  us,  besides  a  large 
number  of  other  Jewish  families  of  this  town,  as  outlaws  before 
the  world.  We  respectfully  ask  your  immediate  attention  to  this 
enormous  outrage  on  all  law  and  humanity  and  pray  for  your 
effectual  and  immediate  interposition.  We  would  especially  refer 
you  to  the  post  commander  and  post  adjutant  as  to  our  loyalty, 
and  to  all  respectable  citizens  of  this  community  as  to  our  stand 
ing  as  citizens  and  merchants.  We  respectfully  ask  for  immediate 
instructions  to  be  sent  to  the  Commander  of  this  Post. 

D.  WOLFF  &  BEOS. 

C.  J.  KASKEL. 

J.  W.  KASKEL. 


It  was  determined  to  send  a  representative  of  the  Jewish 
community  to  Washington  to  communicate  with  the  President 
in  person,  and  for  that  purpose  Ceasar  J.  Kaskel,  one  of  the 
signers  of  the  appeal,  a  vice-president  of  the  Paducah  Union 
League  Club  and  one  of  the  most  respected  merchants  of  the 
town,  was  selected. 

Ceasar  Kaskel  was  a  native  of  Prussia.  When  Grant's  Gen 
eral  Order  No.  11  was  issued  he  was  in  his  thirtieth  year. 
J.  W.  Kaskel,  another  signer  of  the  appeal,  was  his  brother.  A 
record  of  the  Paducah  proceedings  was  preserved  by  the  latter, 
now  living  at  Bensonhurst,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  from  which  we 
learn  that  Ceasar  Kaskel  at  once  left  Paducah  by  steamer  for 
Cairo.  While  en  route  he  prepared  a  full  account  of  the  affair 
which  on  reaching  Cairo  was  furnished  to  the  agent  of  the 
Associated  Press,  this  being  the  first  newspaper  report  given 
to  the  country. 

Kaskel,  says  the  Israelite,  took  with  him  letters  from  Eabbi 
Max  Lilienthal,  and  Daniel  Wolf,  a  prominent  Cincinnati 
merchant,  to  influential  parties  in  Washington  and  arrived  at 
the  National  Capital  on  the  evening  of  January  3,  1863.  Ac 
companied  by  Eepresentative  Gurley  of  Ohio  the  two  at  once 
sought  an  audience  with  the  President,  reaching  the  White 
House  at  about  dusk.  Announcing  their  presence,  with  an 
apology  for  calling  at  such  an  hour,  the  President  sent  word 
that  he  was  "  always  glad  to  see  his  friends,"  and  shortly  made 
his  appearance.  On  learning  the  object  of  their  visit  he  re 
marked  : 

And  so  the  children  of  Israel  were  driven  from  the  happy  land 
of  Canaan? 

Kaskel  replied : 

Yes,  and  that  is  why  we  have  come  unto  Father  Abraham's 
bosom,  asking  protection. 

Lincoln  responded : 
And  this  protection  they  shall  have  at  once. 

Then  seating  himself  at  a  table  the  President  penned  an 


13 

order  to  General  Halleck  requesting  his  visitors  to  deliver  it  at 
once. 

"  You  may  leave  for  home  at  once  if  you  wish,"  said  General 
Halleck  to  Kaskel  on  reading  Lincoln's  instructions,  "and 
before  you  reach  there  Grant's  order  will  have  been  revoked." 

Kaskel  that  same  night  started  back  to  Paducah,  and  arriv 
ing  there  was  surprised  to  learn  that  the  order  of  revocation 
had  not  yet  been  promulgated. 

"By  whose  orders  do  you  return?"  demanded  the  Post 
Commander,  on  learning  of  Kaskel's  presence  in  town. 

"  By  order  of  the  President  of  the  United  States,"  replied 
Kaskel. 

Halleck's  instructions  to  Grant,  it  appears,  had  been  delayed 
in  transmission  and  the  latter's  revocation  was  not  issued  until 
January  7,  1863.  Two  weeks  later,  January  21,  Halleck  wrote 
to  Grant: 

The  President  has  no  objection  to  your  expelling  traitors  and 
Jew  peddlers  which  I  suppose  was  the  object  of  your  order,  but 
as  it  in  terms  proscribed  an  entire  religious  class,  some  of  whom 
are  fighting  in  our  ranks,  the  President  deems  it  necessary  to 
revoke  it. 

Dr.  Wise  is  authority  for  the  statement  that  Halleck  would 
not  believe  in  the  existence  of  Grant's  order  until  Kaskel 
showed  him  the  official  copy. 

Before  the  result  of  Kaskel's  mission  became  known  Rabbis 
Wise  and  Lilienthal,  accompanied  by  Edgar  M.  Johnson,  a 
lawyer  of  Cincinnati,  Martin  Bijur,  a  lawyer  of  Louisville,  and 
Abraham  Goldsmith,  a  merchant  of  Paducah,  had  gone  to 
Washington.  Learning  of  Kaskel's  success  on  the  way  they 
determined  nevertheless  to  complete  the  journey  in  order  to 
express  their  thanks  to  the  President  for  his  prompt  action. 
Rabbi  Wise,  in  the  Israelite,  gave  an  interesting  account  of 
their  interview. 

We  went  to  the  White  House  in  our  traveling  habiliments  and 
spoke  about  half  an  hour  to  the  President  of  the  United  States  in 
an  open  and  frank  manner  and  were  dismissed  in  the  same  simple 


style.  Having  expressed  our  thanks  for  his  promptness  and 
despatch  in  revoking  Grant's  order  the  President  gave  utterance 
to  his  surprise  that  such  an  order  should  have  been  issued.  "  I 
don't  like  to  see  a  class  or  nationality  condemned  on  account  of  a 
few  sinners,"  he  said.  The  President  fully  convinced  us  that  he 
knows  of  no  distinction  between  Jews  and  Gentiles  and  that  he 
feels  no  prejudice  against  any  nationality  and  especially  against 
the  Israelites.  We  had  little  chance  to  say  anything,  the  President 
being  so  splendidly  eloquent  on  this  occasion.  He  spoke  like  a 
simple,  plain  citizen  and  tried  in  various  forms  to  convince  us 
of  the  sincerity  of  his  words  on  this  matter. 

Pending  a  settlement  of  the  matter,  Representative  George 
H.  Pendleton,  of  Ohio,  who  the  following  year  figured  as  the 
running  mate  of  George  B.  McClellan,  Lincoln's  rival  for  the 
Presidency,  introduced  a  resolution  in  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  condemning  Grant's  action  "as  well  as  that  of  the 
President  as  commander-in-chief  of  the  Amy  and  Navy," 
which  was  laid  on  the  table.  Unmindful  of  the  success  of 
KaskePs  mission,  Mr.  Powell,  of  Kentucky,  offered  a  resolution 
in  the  Senate  on  January  5,  1863,  condemning  Grant's  order 
as  "illegal,  tyrannical,  cruel  and  unjust;"  but  inasmuch  as 
the  order  had  been  revoked,  objection  was  raised  to  its  con 
sideration,  and  Senators  Hale,  of  New  Hampshire  and  Sum- 
ner,  of  Massachusetts  urged  that  the  resolution  be  tabled. 

Mr.  Powell,  according  to  the  Congressional  Globe,  then  ad 
dressed  the  Senate.  He  had  in  his  possession,  he  said,  docu 
ments  that  would  go  to  establish  the  fact  beyond  the  possi 
bility  of  a  doubt  that  some  thirty  Jewish  gentlemen,  residents 
of  Paducah,  were  driven  from  their  homes  and  their  business 
by  virtue  of  this  order  of  General  Grant.  They  had  only  the 
short  notice  of  four  and  twenty  hours.  The  Jewish  women 
and  children  of  the  city  were  expelled  under  that  order.  Not 
a  Jew,  man,  woman  or  child  was  left,  except  two  women  who 
were  prostrate  on  beds  of  sickness.  He  added : 

If  we  tamely  submit  to  allow  the  military  power  thus  to 
encroach  on  the  rights  of  the  citizens  who  shall  be  setting  a  bad 
and  most  pernicious  example  to  those  in  command  of  our  Army. 


15 


He  urged  the  passage  of  the  resolution.  It  would  be  of  the 
greatest  importance  particularly  at  that  time  when  the  con 
stitutional  rights  of  the  citizens  were  being  trodden  under 
foot  by  the  executive  and  military  power. 

General  Grant  might  just  as  well  expel  the  Baptists  or  the 
Methodists  or  the  Episcopalians  or  the  Catholics  as  a  class,  as  to 
expel  the  Jews.  All  are  alike  protected  in  the  enjoyment  of  their 
religion  by  the  Constitution  of  our  country.  They  are  inoffensive 
citizens  and  it  was  set  forth  in  papers  that  he  had  before  him  that 
two  of  the  Jews  that  were  expelled  had  served  three  months  in 
the  Army  of  the  United  States  in  defence  of  the  Union  cause. 

It  may  be  that  some  Jews  in  General  Grant's  department  had 
been  guilty  of  illegal  traffic;  if  so,  expel  those  who  violate  the  law 
and  punish  them. 

Mr.  Clark,  of  New  Hampshire,  moved  that  the  resolution 
be  indefinitely  postponed,  believing  that  it  would  be  unwise 
to  condemn  General  Grant  unheard.  Mr.  Anthony,  of  Kansas, 
suggested  that  a  better  disposition  would  be  to  refer  it  to  the 
Committee  on  Military  Affairs. 

Mr.  Wilson,  of  Massachusetts,  followed.  He  declared  that 
no  man  in  the  Senate  approved  Grant's  order,  that  as  soon  as 
it  was  called  to  the  attention  of  the  President  of  the  United 
States  it  was  promptly  revoked,  and  there  the  matter  ended. 
He  agreed  with  Mr.  Clark,  that  Grant  should  not  be  condemned 
unheard.  He  considered  the  order  unwise,  unjust  and  utterly 
indefensible;  but  the  rights  of  these  people  having  been 
promptly  vindicated  he  hoped  the  matter  would  be  dropped. 
Senator  Hale  then  moved  to  lay  Mr.  Powell's  resolution  on  the 
table  and  this  was  done  by  a  vote  of  30  to  7,  thus  disposing  of 
further  Congressional  action. 

Two  Cincinnati  newspapers,  the  Enquirer  and  the  Volks- 
freund,  were  outspoken  in  condemnation  of  Grant.  The  Phila 
delphia  Ledger  opened  its  columns  to  persons  who  severely 
censured  Grant,  while  the  Inquirer  of  the  same  city  declined 
to  publish  articles  derogatory  of  the  Federal  Commander. 
John  W.  Forney,  Secretary  of  the  United  States  Senate,  and 


16 


editor  of  the  Washington  Chronicle,  defended  General  Grant, 
saying : 

If  there  was  no  good  reason,  there  was  at  least  some  excuse  for 
the  promulgation  of  the  order. 

The  Occident  commended  the  President's  action: 
Fortunately  he  would  not  be  the  instrument  of  such  a  cruel 
order  and  the  majority  in  Congress  deserve  the  condemnation  due 
them  for  disregard  of  their  obligations  as  conservators  of  the 
rights  of  the  people,  which  ought  to  be  safe  under  the  guarantees 
of  the  Constitution. 

The  Board  of  Delegates  of  American  Israelites  adopted  reso 
lutions  thanking  Halleck  for  revoking  Grant's  order  "  in  the 
name  of  the  Hebrews  of  this  country."  Dr.  Wise  vehemently 
protested  against  this,,  describing  the  resolution  as  "  a  species 
of  insanity,"  as  "  Halleck  only  carried  out  the  order  of  the 
President  who  deserves  thanks  for  his  promptness  in  the 
affair." 

Did  Grant  issue  his  obnoxious  edict  of  his  own  volition,  or 
at  the  behest  of  higher  authority?  The  Cincinnati  Commer 
cial,  after  the  affair  was  over,  published  a  communication  inti 
mating  that  Grant  had  acted  on  orders  from  Washington. 
The  Israelite  was  of  the  opinion  that  such  an  order  could  have 
come  only  from  Stanton  or  Chase,  since  the  President  and 
Halleck  absolutely  maintained  that  they  knew  nothing  of  it 
until  seventeen  days  after  it  was  issued. 

General  Grant,  in  his  Personal  Memoirs,  makes  no  reference 
to  Order  No.  11.  An  explanation  of  his  silence  may  be  found 
in  the  following  letter  dated  Governor's  Island,  N.  Y.,  Decem 
ber  8,  1907,  and  addressed  to  the  writer. 

In  reply  to  your  letter  of  Nov.  23d  I  write  to  say  that  when  my 
father  was  writing  his  memoirs  I  asked  if  he  would  refer  to  the 
order  No.  11 — about  which  you  enquire  in  your  letter,  and  he 
replied  that  that  was  a  matter  long  past  and  best  not  referred  to; 
therefore,  I  shall,  following  his  example,  have  nothing  to  say 
about  that  order. 

Yours  very  sincerely, 

FKEDERICK  D.  GRANT. 


17 


Nicolay  and  Hay  dismiss  the  subject  in  these  few  words : 
Lincoln  had  a  profound  respect  for  every  form,  of  sincere 
religious  belief.  He  steadily  refused  to  show  favor  to  any  par 
ticular  denomination  of  Christians,  and  when  General  Grant  issued 
an  unjust  and  injurious  order  against  the  Jews  expelling  them 
from  his  Department,  the  President  ordered  it  to  be  revoked  the 
moment  it  was  brought  to  his  notice. 

As  further  bearing  upon  Ceasar  Kaskel's  activity  in  this 
matter  it  may  be  stated  that  the  Washington  press  despatches 
gave  him  full  credit  for  the  repeal  of  the  order.  He  died  in 
Wiesbaden,  Germany,  March  30,  1892. 

LINCOLN'S  JEWISH  FRIENDS. 

The  name  of  Abraham  Jonas,  a  leading  lawyer,  politician, 
and  public  speaker  of  Illinois,  is  indissolubly  associated  with 
that  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  two  having  enjoyed  very  inti 
mate  relations,  dating,  it  is  believed,  from  about  the  birth  of 
the  Whig  party  in  1834  and  continuing  up  to  the  death  of 
Jonas  in  1864. 

Of  the  antecedents  of  Abraham  Jonas,  we  learn  that  he 
was  one  of  twenty- two  children  of  Annie  Ezekiel  and  Benja 
min  Jonas,  of  Exeter,  England,  where  he  was  born  in  1801. 
He  arrived  in  Cincinnati,  in  1819,  two  years  after  his  brother 
Joseph,  the  first  Jew  to  settle  in  that  city,  and  engaged  in 
the  auction  business  with  his  brother-in-law,  Morris  Moses. 
He  was  twice  married,  his  first  wife  being  Lucia  Orah,  daugh 
ter  of  Eev.  Gershom  Mendes  Seixas,  of  New  York,  who  died 
in  1825.  In  1829  he  married  Louisa  Block,  of  Virginia.  He 
was  one  of  the  incorporators  of  the  first  synagogue  in  Cincin 
nati,  in  1829,  and  his  name  appears  in  a  conveyance  recorded 
in  1821,  as  one  of  the  purchasers  of  a  small  plot  of  ground 
for  a  Jewish  cemetery  from  Nicholas  Longworth,  great-grand 
father  of  the  present  Ohio  Congressman  of  that  name,  the  son- 
in-law  of  President  Theodore  Eoosevelt. 

Jonas  moved  to  Williamstown,  Grant  County,  Ky.,  before 
his  marriage  to  Miss  Block,  and  served  in  the  State  legisla- 
2 


18 


ture  of  Kentucky  in  1828,  1829,  1830,  and  1833.  He  was 
elected  Grand  Master  of  Masons  of  Kentucky  in  August,  1833, 
and  his  portrait  as  such  adorns  the  walls  of  the  Grand  Lodge 
room  in  Louisville.  He  settled  in  Illinois  in  1838  and  was 
elected  to  the  legislature  in  1842.  He  became  the  first  Grand 
Master  of  Masons  of  that  State  in  1839.  A  tablet  in  his 
honor  was  placed  in  the  hall  of  the  Grand  Lodge  of  Illinois 
on  the  announcement  of  his  death  in  1864  and  the  Grand 
Lodge  at  their  semi-centennial  in  1889  had  a  bronze  medal 
struck  which  bears  his  name. 

Jonas,  with  Lincoln,  was  chosen  by  the  Illinois  State  Con 
vention  held  at  Bloomington  on  May  29,  1856,  a  Presidential 
elector  on  the  Fremont  ticket.  He  was  engaged  in  mercantile 
pursuits  up  to  the  year  1843.  Meanwhile  he  had  studied  law 
and  was  admitted  in  that  year  to  the  bar  in  Quincy  where  he 
continued  to  practice  with  success  up  to  his  death  in  1864, 
being  associated  with  Henry  Asbury.  William  A.  Eichardson, 
of  Quincy,  avers  that  Lincoln,  when  in  that  city  did  much  of 
his  work  in  the  office  of  Jonas  &  Asbury.  The  Quincy  Whig, 
of  October  7,  1858,  prints  a  notice  signed  by  Jonas,  as  chair 
man  of  the  Eepublican  committee  of  arrangements,  addressed 
to  the  friends  of  Abraham  Lincoln  requesting  their  presence 
at  the  debate  of  Lincoln  and  Douglas,  on  October  13,  in  that 
city.  (See  Collections  Illinois  State  Historical  Society,  Vol. 
III.)  The  Hon.  William  H.  Collins,  of  Quincy,  a  prominent 
member  of  the  State  Historical  Society  of  Illinois,  is  authority 
for  the  statement  that  Jonas  was  "  an  influential  leader  in  the 
Republican  party  and  likewise  a  personal  friend  of  Lincoln." 
The  Grand  Secretary  of  the  Masonic  Grand  Lodge  of  Kentucky 
also  testified  to  his  prominence  "  in  all  the  positions  he  occu 
pied." 

With  the  exception  of  Nicolay  and  Hay  none  of  the  numer 
ous  biographers  of  Lincoln  makes  mention  of  Jonas  either  in 
connection  with  Lincoln  or  his  prominence  in  Illinois  politics. 
These  writers  give  us  an  interesting  letter  addressed  by  Lin- 


19 

coin  to  Jonas  after  the  former's  nomination  for  President  in 
1860  when  the  opponents  of  the  Kepublican  nominee  were 
assiduous  in  reviving  accusations  of  his  affiliation  with  the 
Know-Nothing  party,  notwithstanding  his  repeated  statements 
to  the  contrary.  In  this  emergency  Lincoln  turned  to  his 
friend  Jonas,  to  whom  he  addressed  the  following  letter  which 
fully  evidences  the  confidential  relations  of  the  two  and  ex 
plains  the  former's  attitude  on  the  Know-Nothing  question: 

Confidential  July  21>  186Q 

Hon.  A.  Jonas, 

MY  DEAR  SIR:  Yours  of  the  2nd  is  received.  I  suppose  as  good 
or  e\en  better  men  than  I  may  have  been  in  American  or  Know- 
Nothing  lodges;  but  in  point  of  fact  I  never  was  in  one  in  Quincy 
or  elsewhere.  I  was  never  in  Quincy  but  one  day  and  two  nights 
while  Know-Nothing  lodges  were  in  existence  and  you  were  with 
me  that  day  and  both  those  nights.  I  have  never  been  there 
before  in  my  life  and  never  afterwards,  till  the  joint  debate  with 
Douglas  in  1858.  It  was  in  1854  when  I  spoke  in  some  hall  there, 
and  after  the  speaking,  you  with  others  took  me  to  an  oyster 
saloon,  passed  an  hour  there,  and  you  walked  with  me  to,  and 
parted  with  me  at  the  Quincy  House  quite  late  at  night.  I  left 
by  stage  for  Naples  before  daylight  in  the  morning,  having  come 
in  by  the  same  route  after  dark  the  evening  previous  to  the 
speaking,  when  I  found  you  waiting  at  the  Quincy  House  to  meet 
me.  A  few  days  after  I  was  there,  Richardson,  as  I  understand, 
started  this  same  story  about  my  having  been  in  a  Know-Nothing 
lodge.  When  I  heard  of  the  charge,  as  I  did  soon  after,  I  taxed 
my  recollection  for  some  incident  which  could  have  suggested  it; 
and  I  remember  that  on  parting  with  you  the  last  night  I  went 
to  the  office  of  the  hotel  to  take  my  stage  passage  for  the  morning 
and  was  told  that  no  stage  office  for  that  line  was  kept  there  and 
that  I  must  see  the  driver  before  retiring,  to  insure  his  calling 
for  me  in  the  morning;  and  a  servant  was  sent  with  me  to  find 
the  driver,  who  after  taking  me  a  square  or  two,  stopped  me  and 
stepped  perhaps  a  dozen  steps  farther,  and  in  my  hearing  called 
to  some  one,  who  answered  him,  apparently  from  the  upper  part 
of  a  building,  and  promised  to  call  with  the  stage  for  me  at  the 
Quincy  House.  I  returned  and  went  to  bed,  and  before  day  the 
stage  called  and  took  me.  This  is  all.  That  I  never  was  in  a 


Know-Nothing  lodge  in  Quincy  I  should  expect  could  be  easily 
proved  by  respectable  men  who  were  always  in  the  lodges  and 
never  saw  me  there.  An  affidavit  of  one  or  two  such  should  put 
the  matter  at  rest.  And  now  a  word  of  caution.  Our  adversaries 
think  they  can  gain  a  point  if  they  force  me  to  openly  deny  the 
charge,  by  which  some  degree  of  offence  would  be  given  to  the 
"  Americans."  For  this  reason  it  must  not  publicly  appear  that 
I  am  paying  any  attention  to  the  charge. 

Yours  truly, 

A.  LINCOLN. 

From  1849  to  1852  Jonas  served  as  postmaster  at  Quincy 
by  appointment  of  Presidents  Taylor  and  Fillmore.  One  of 
Lincoln's  earliest  appointments  was  that  of  his  friend  Jonas 
to  his  former  office,  his  commission  being  dated  April  29,  1861. 
He  discharged  the  duties  of  postmaster  until  the  spring  of 
1864  when  he  was  incapacitated  by  serious  illness.  Martin 
Joseph,  then,  as  now,  a  resident  of  Quincy,  informs  the  writer 
that  he  visited  Jonas  frequently  during  his  illness,  being  per 
sonally  acquainted  with  him,  and  "when  the  doctors  had  no 
hope  for  his  recovery,  of  which  he  was  aware,  his  only  wish  was 
to  see  his  son  Charles  H.,  at  that  time  a  prisoner  of  war,  a 
member  of  the  Twelfth  Arkansas  Regiment  of  the  Confed 
erate  Army.  The  friends  telegraphed  to  Lincoln  to  grant 
him  the  privilege  to  go  to  his  dying  father  and  the  President 
being  a  great  friend  of  Mr.  Jonas  granted  the  release  and 
sent  word  the  son  was  on  the  way." 

This  statement  of  Mr.  Joseph  varies  but  slightly  from  that 
of  Charles  H.  Jonas,  still  living  in  his  77th  year.  In  a  letter 
to  the  writer  dated  July  14,  1908,  he  says : 

When  during  my  father's  last  illness  and  hope  of  his  recovery 
had  been  abandoned,  my  mother  and  sister  asked  Mr.  Lincoln  to 
permit  me  to  see  him  before  his  death.  I  was  at  that  time  a 
prisoner  of  war  on  Johnson's  Island,  Lake  Erie.  President  Lin 
coln  granted  the  request  without  hesitation,  and  issued  an  order 
to  the  Commandant  at  the  prison  to  liberate  me  on  parole  to 
visit  my  dying  father.  This  was  done  at  once  and  I  reached 
Quincy  on  the  day  of  my  father's  death,  but  in  time  to  be  recog 
nized  and  welcomed  by  him. 


21 


From  the  records  of  the  War  Department  we  are  enabled  to 
reproduce  the  President's  order  above  referred  to,  the  same 
being  also  quoted  by  Leslie  J.  Perry  in  an  article  "  Appeals  to 
Lincoln's  Clemency/'  in  the  Century  Magazine,  December, 
1895: 

Allow  Charles  H.  Jonas  now  a  prisoner  of  war  at  Johnson's 
island  a  parole  of  three  weeks  to  visit  his  dying  father,  Abraham 
Jonas,  at  Quincy,  Ills. 

June  2nd  1864.  A.  LINCOLN. 

In  connection  with  this  incident  it  should  be  said  that  three 
other  sons  of  Jonas  served  in  the  Confederate  army — Benja 
min  F.,  in  later  years  United  States  Senator  from  Louisiana ; 
Julian,  and  Samuel  Alroy,  the  latter  being  known  as  the 
author  of  the  poem  "  Written  on  the  Back  of  a  Confederate 
Note."  A  fifth  son,  Edward,  served  with  distinction  as 
Major  of  an  Illinois  regiment.  Lincoln's  postmaster  at 
Quincy  suffered  in  no  wise  by  the  Southern  sympathies  of  his 
four  sons;  in  fact  we  have  it  from  Benjamin  F.  Jonas  that 
"  Mr.  Lincoln  always  asked  after  us  when  he  saw  any  one 
from  New  Orleans  during  the  war." 

Further  evidence  of  Lincoln's  high  opinion  of  Jonas  exists 
in  the  shape  of  an  order  of  the  President  in  the  matter  of  one 
Thomas  Thoroughman  of  St.  Joseph,  Mo.,  arrested  for  dis 
loyalty  in  May,  1862,  and  sent  to  Quincy,  111.  Appeal  being 
made  to  Lincoln  he  directed  the  Secretary  of  War  "  to  dispose 
of  the  case  at  the  discretion  of  Abraham  Jonas  and  Henry 
Asbury,  both  of  Quincy,  both  of  whom  I  know  to  be  loyal  and 
sensible  men."  Their  report  resulted  in  Thoroughman's 
parole.  This  case  is  also  quoted  by  Leslie  J.  Perry  in  the 
Century  Magazine,  December,  1895.  Asbury  in  1869  pub 
lished  in  the  Quincy  Whig  a  series  of  sketches  of  the  bench 
and  bar  of  Adams  County  including  that  of  Jonas,  to  which 
he  refers  in  his  volume  Reminiscences  of  Quincy,  published 
in  1882. 

On  the  death  of  Jonas  the  President  appointed  his  widow 


Louisa  Block  Jonas  to  fill  his  unexpired  term  as  postmaster, 
the  office  being  meanwhile  managed  by  her  daughter  Anna 
Jonas  who  became  the  wife  of  Adolph  Meyer,  for  twenty  years 
Congressman  from  Louisiana. 

Of  Jonas'  personality  we  learn  from  his  niece  Mrs.  Annie 
J.  Moses,  of  New  York.  She  writes : 

He  was  tall,  of  medium  weight,  rather  inclined  to  leanness 
than  flesh,  with  black  eyes  and  hair  and  complexion  between 
dark  and  fair.  His  features  were  very  strong,  with  a  serious, 
intelligent  face,  which  broke  into  a  very  pleasant  expression 
when  amused.  He  was  a  very  intellectual  man  and  full  of 
humor  and  wit;  and  benevolence  was  well  marked  in  his 
countenance. 

Of  the  few  Jewish  residents  of  Springfield  for  several  years 
preceding  Lincoln's  election  to  the  Presidency,  Julius  Ham 
merslough,  of  the  firm  of  Hammer  slough  Brothers,  enjoyed 
very  friendly  relations  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lincoln.  He  heard 
Lincoln's  memorable  address  in  Springfield  on  June  17,  1858, 
beginning  with  the  words,  "  If  we  could  first  know  where  we 
are  and  whither  we  are  tending,  we  could  better  judge  what  to 
do  and  how  to  do  it."  Mr.  Hammerslough  witnessed  Lincoln's 
first  inauguration  and  frequently  called  to  see  him  at  the 
White  House,  the  President  invariably  inquiring  of  Mr. 
Hammerslough :  "  How  are  the  boys  ?  " — referring  to  the 
brothers  in  Springfield.  One  one  occasion  he  escorted  Mrs. 
Ninian  Edwards,  a  sister  of  Mrs.  Lincoln,  from  Springfield 
to  Washington.  He  accompanied  Lincoln's  remains  from 
Chicago  to  Springfield  as  one  of  a  committee  of  citizens  of 
Lincoln's  old  home  chosen  for  that  purpose,  and  he  also  pro 
vided  the  plumes  for  the  funeral  car  used  in  Springfield. 
Hammerslough  took  a  very  active  part  in  the  project  for  the 
erection  of  the  Lincoln  monument  in  Springfield,  being  ap 
pointed  by  the  national  monument  committee  special  agent 
to  bring  the  subject  to  the  notice  of  the  Jews.  In  a  stirring 
appeal  for  funds  dated  Springfield,  May  30,  1865,  he  wrote: 


23 


It  is  above  all,  fitting  in  this  land  where  the  Hebrews  have  won 
so  proud  a  name  and  are  so  greatly  respected  and  honored  that 
they  should  thus  show  their  love  and  veneration  for  the  fallen 
chief  of  the  nation,  whose  wisdom,  honesty  and  purity  of  pur 
pose  were  so  highly  appreciated  by  foreign  nations  and  who  was 
so  beloved  at  home. 

Shortly  before  his  death  Mr.  Hammerslough  called  the 
writer's  attention  to  an  old  and  familiar  Lincoln  story  the 
authenticity  of  which  has  long  been  questioned.  Eeturning 
to  Springfield  after  several  weeks'  absence  with  saddle  bags 
on  his  arms,  Lincoln  noticed  on  nearing  his  home  that  an 
additional  story  had  been  added  since  he  left — the  work  of 
Mrs.  Lincoln  and  intended  as  a  surprise.  Feigning  inability 
to  recognize  the  house  he  inquired  of  a  passer-by,  "  Say,  Mister, 
can  you  tell  me  where  the  widow  Lincoln  lives  ?  "  The  party 
thus  addressed  was  Abner  Wilkinson,  a  well-known  merchant 
tailor  of  Springfield,  from  whose  lips  Hammerslough  heard 
the  story  some  years  afterwards.  This  statement  of  Wilkinson 
to  Hammerslough  is  interesting,  in  that  it  settles  the  character 
of  at  least  one  of  the  many  Lincoln  stories  heretofore  in  the 
apocryphal  class. 

In  the  late  'sixties  Mr.  Hammerslough  moved  to  New  York 
where  he  became  the  founder  and  first  President  of  the 
Clothiers  Association  of  New  York.  On  his  death,  June  18, 
1908,  the  directors  of  that  association  formally  gave  expres 
sion  to  the  debt  of  gratitude  due  him  for  the  uplifting  of  the 
clothing  industry.  The  daily  newspapers  also  noted  his  inti 
mate  acquaintance  with  Lincoln. 

There  resided  in  Jacksonville,  111.,  from  1853  to  1861 
Henry  Eice  a  merchant  born  in  Germany  in  1834  and  now  a 
resident  of  New  York.  Eice  knew  Lincoln  well.  Eeferring 
to  his  acquaintance  he  told  the  writer  of  a  visit  to  Springfield 
when  he  met  Lincoln  bound  for  the  railroad  station  in  quest 
of  Mrs.  Lincoln  who  had  been  away  on  a  shopping  trip  "  to 
get  some  duds"  as  he  put  it.  Eice  told  Lincoln  it  was  his 


intention,  if  he  would  permit  it,  to  furnish  his  inauguration 
suit.  He  thanked  Rice,  saying  he  had  already  accepted  a 
similar  offer  from  the  Springfield  firm  of  Wood  and  Hinkle. 
Eice  had  been  acting  for  several  months  after  the  breaking  out 
of  the  war  as  military  store-keeper  at  Cairo,  111.,  and  sought 
a  similar  appointment  embracing  the  entire  district,  being 
backed  by  John  A.  Logan  and  Governor  Richard  Yates  of 
Illinois.  Accompanied  by  these  gentlemen  Rice  called  upon 
Lincoln  at  the  White  House.  He  found  the  President  at 
supper  and  at  his  invitation  the  three  joined  in  the  repast. 
Lincoln  favored  Rice's  appointment  and  endorsed  hi&  applica 
tion  to  Simon  Cameron,  Secretary  of  War.  It  turned  out 
however,  that  Cameron  had  already  filled  the  office.  Lincoln, 
when  informed  of  this,  suggested  a  method  by  which  Rice 
might  yet  secure  the  appointment  but  the  latter  allowed  the 
matter  to  drop. 

A  characteristic  instance  of  Lincoln's  probity  is  narrated  by 
Mr.  Rice,  who  was  a  party  to  the  proceeding.  Several  Cin 
cinnati  firms,  on  learning  of  the  failure  of  a  Decatur,  111., 
debtor  for  a  large  sum,  wrote  to  Rice  at  Jacksonville  request 
ing  that  he  recommend  a  reputable  lawyer  to  protect  their 
interests.  Rice  suggested  Abraham  Lincoln  of  Springfield. 
Thereupon  a  committee  representing  the  creditors  met  Rice 
at  Springfield  and  the  party  called  upon  Lincoln.  Much  to 
their  chagrin  they  were  told  he  did  not  feel  satisfied  he  could 
properly  attend  to  the  matter.  He  advised  them,  however,  to 
consult  his  fellow-townsman  and  most  bitter  political  op 
ponent,  John  A.  McClernand,  also  a  lawyer  of  note,  who  was 
later  a  Major-General  in  the  Union  Army.  Indisposed  to 
accept  a  retainer  McClernand  suggested  that  the  party  again 
see  Lincoln,  assuring  them  of  his  thorough  qualification  for 
the  work  in  hand.  This  flattering  endorsement  induced  Lin 
coln  to  yield,  the  result  being  a  speedy  and  mutually  satis 
factory  adjustment  of  the  matter  at  issue. 


25 


It  was  during  the  Presidential  campaign  of  1860  that 
Abraham  Kohn,  City  Clerk  of  Chicago,  first  met  Lincoln,  the 
acquaintance  being  formed  in  the  store  of  Kohn,  at  that  time 
a  merchant.  Kohn  was  a  Bavarian,  then  in  his  42d  year,  a 
man  of  excellent  education,  well  versed  in  Hebrew  literature 
and  known  and  respected  as  a  public-spirited  citizen.  He  had 
been  for  several  years  President  of  the  Hebrew  Congregation 
Anshe  Maariv  (Men  of  the  West).  In  politics  Kohn  was 
described  by  the  Democratic  press  as  "one  of  the  blackest 
Eepublicans  and  Abolitionists."  Kohn's  popularity  and  in 
fluence  had  probably  been  brought  to  Lincoln's  attention,  and 
the  latter,  consummate  politician  as  he  was,  recognized  in 
Kohn,  presumably,  an  ally  whose  acquaintance  would  prove 
a  valuable  asset  in  the  pending  election.  Lincoln  was  intro 
duced  by  Congressman  Isaac  N.  Arnold  who  accompanied  him 
and  it  was  this  meeting  that  inspired  Kohn  with  a  feeling  of 
admiration  for  his  visitor  and  a  conviction  that  he  was  the 
destined  Moses  of  the  slaves  and  the  saviour  of  his  country. 
Thus  says  his  daughter,  Mrs.  D.  K.  Adler,  in  a  letter  to  the 
writer.  Lincoln  in  the  course  of  the  conversation  spoke  of 
the  Bible  as  their  book  and  Kohn,  being  a  devout  Jew  as  well 
as  an  ardent  patriot,  conceived  an  intense  admiration  for 
Lincoln.  This  found  expression  in  his  sending  to  the  Presi 
dent-elect  before  his  departure  for  Washington  a  silk  flag,  the 
work  of  his  own  hands,  painted  in  colors,  its  folds  bearing 
Hebrew  characters  exquisitely  lettered  in  black  with  the  third 
to  ninth  verses  of  the  first  chapter  of  Joshua,  the  last  verse 
being : 

Have  I  not  commanded  thee?  Be  strong  and  of  good  courage; 
be  not  afraid  neither  be  thou  dismayed;  for  the  Lord  thy  God  is 
with  thee  whithersoever  thou  goest. 

This  flag  is  referred  to  by  Admiral  George  H.  Preble  in  his 
History  of  the  Flag  of  the  United  States,  published  in  1894. 
The  incident  being  brought  to  the  attention  of  the  late  Presi 
dent  McKinley,  when  Governor  of  Ohio,  he  thus  alluded  to  it 


26 


in  the  course  of  a  speech  delivered  at  Ottawa,  Kansas,  on  June 
20,  1895: 

What  more  beautiful  conception  than  that  which  Abraham 
Kohn  of  Chicago  in  February,  1861,  to  send  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  on  the 
eve  of  his  starting  to  Washington,  to  assume  the  office  of  Presi 
dent,  a  flag  of  our  country,  bearing  upon  its  silken  folds  the 
words  from  the  first  chapter  of  Joshua.  Could  anything  have 
given  Mr.  Lincoln  more  cheer  or  been  better  calculated  to  sustain 
his  courage  or  to  strengthen  his  faith  in  the  mighty  work  before 
him?  Thus  commanded,  thus  assured,  Mr.  Lincoln  journeyed  to 
the  Capital,  where  he  took  the  oath  of  office  and  registered  in 
Heaven  an  oath  to  save  the  Union.  And  the  Lord  our  God  was 
with  him,  until  every  obligation  of  oath  and  duty  was  sacredly 
kept  and  honored.  Not  any  man  was  able  to  stand  before  him. 
Liberty  was  the  more  firmly  enthroned,  the  Union  was  saved,  and 
the  flag  which  he  carried  floated  in  triumph  and  glory  from  every 
flagstaff  of  the  Republic. 

Mr.  Lincoln  at  once  wrote  to  Mr.  Kohn  thanking  him  for 
his  gift.  His  letter  was  sent  through  a  mutual  friend,  John 
Young  Scammon,  a  prominent  citizen  of  Chicago,  who  de 
layed  its  delivery  until  six  months  after  Lincoln's  departure 
from  Springfield,  when  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Kohn  as  follows : 

CHICAGO,  August  28,  1861. 
Abraham  Kohn,  Esq. 

MY  DEAR  SIB:  The  enclosed  acknowledgment  of  the  receipt  of 
your  beautiful  painting  of  the  American  flag  by  the  President  got 
among  my  letters  or  it  would  have  been  sent  to  you  before. 
Regretting  the  delay,  I  am, 

Truly  your  friend, 

J.  YOUNG  SCAMMON. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  letter  to  Kohn  being  lost  cannot  be  repro 
duced.  The  whereabouts  of  the  flag  cannot  be  traced,  al 
though  Mrs.  Adler  states  that  while  in  Washington  during 
the  administration  of  President  McKinley  she  made  a  thor 
ough  search  for  the  relic  in  all  the  places  where  it  might  be 
preserved  but  without  success.  Kohn  never  met  Lincoln  after 
his  visit  to  his  store  in  Chicago.  He  was  one  of  the  citizens 
appointed  by  the  Mayor  to  go  some  distance  into  Indiana  to 


meet  the  train  bearing  Lincoln's  body  to  that  city.     He  died 
in  Chicago  in  1871. 

Henry  Greenebaum,  for  many  years  a  banker  of  Chicago, 
was  an  intimate  friend  of  Lincoln  and  numbered  also  among 
his  friends  Generals  TJ.  S.  Grant,  John  A.  Logan,  James  A. 
Garfield,  and  Stephen  A.  Douglas.  Born  in  Hesse-Darm 
stadt,  Germany,  in  1833,  he  reached  Chicago  in  1849  and  in 
1855  was  elected  an  Alderman  on  the  Democratic  ticket  in 
recognition  of  his  political  activity  and  influence  with  the 
voters  of  that  party.  John  Wentworth,  "  Long  John/'  being 
Mayor  of  Chicago  at  the  time,  he  invited  the  Aldermen  to  a 
dinner  at  the  Tremont  House,  Lincoln,  a  personal  friend  of 
Wentworth,  being  a  guest.  Of  this  and  subsequent  visits  Mr. 
Greenebaum  gave  the  writer  the  following  account : 

On  the  occasion  of  the  dinner  at  the  Tremont  House  I  met  Lin 
coln  for  the  first  time  and  was  greatly  impressed  by  his  con 
geniality,  by  his  wealth  of  humor,  and  by  his  remarkable  mental 
endowment.  I  formed  the  brightest  appreciation  of  his  person 
ality,  and  whenever  he  came  to  Chicago  subsequent  to  that  time, 
I  called  on  him  at  the  Tremont  House  to  pay  my  respects.  On 
one  of  these  occasions,  during  his  contest  with  Stephen  A. 
Douglas,  for  the  United  States  Senatorship,  I  accompanied  Lincoln 
on  a  walk  during  which  he  asked  me  for  my  support.  My  reply 
was  that  I  could  not  do  so,  that  I  was  a  strong  political  friend 
of  Douglas.  Lincoln  said  he  knew  this  and  that  he  was  not  in 
real  earnest  in  asking  my  support. 

Greenebaum  was  called  to  Springfield  in  the  month  of 
February,  1861,  to  attend  a  hearing  before  a  committee  of 
the  State  legislature.  The  night  before  Lincoln  left  Spring 
field,  Greenebaum  and  a  large  party  of  legislators  and  others 
went  to  Lincoln's  home  to  bid  him  good-bye  and  the  Presi 
dent-elect  asked  all  present  to  come  to  the  depot  in  the 
morning  to  see  him  off.  To  quote  Mr.  Greenebaum : 

A  large  crowd  gathered  and  the  dear  man  made  a  very  solemn 
and  impressive  speech — indeed  he  moved  us  to  tears.  With 
wonderful  modesty  he  expressed  his  fear  of  being  unable  to  meet 
the  grave  responsibility  that  awaited  him  at  the  White  House. 


His  faith  in  God  gave  him  courage,  he  said,  and  he  asked  us  to 
pray  for  him.  Taken  all  in  all  I  consider  him  the  greatest  man 
I  ever  met.  He  was  a  man  of  very  broad  views,  had  no  preju 
dices  whatever  against  any  nationalities  or  classes  and  many  of 
the  most  prominent  Jews  of  Illinois  supported  him  for  the 
Presidency. 

By  reason  of  his  residence  and  prominence  in  the  city  of 
Washington  Adolphus  S.  Solomons  had  frequent  intercouse 
with  Lincoln.  He  was  a  member  of  the  book  and  publishing 
firm  of  Philip  and  Solomons  which  for  many  years  was  given 
the  government  contracts  for  printing.  Mr.  Solomons  has 
taken  an  active  part  in  the  inauguration  ceremonies  of  every 
President  from  Lincoln  to  Eoosevelt,  is  still  living  in  the  Na 
tional  Capital  in  his  eighty-second  year,  and  is  full  of  reminis 
cences  of  Lincoln.  At  the  Lincoln  birthday  celebration  given 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Hebrew  Educational  Society  of 
Brooklyn  in  1903  he  said : 

To  me,  whose  good  fortune  it  was  to  know  Mr.  Lincoln  when 
he  first  came  to  Washington,  and  to  know  him  was  to  love  him, 
it  would  come  with  natural  impulse  to  glow  over  the  make  up  of 
his  remarkable  career.  All  of  his  inclinations  were  on  the  sunny 
side  of  life  and  the  beauty  spots  seen  through  his  hopeful  eyes 
covered  many  freckles  upon  the  human  face  divine  and  made  him 
think  well  of  all  his  fellow  men. 

On  the  same  occasion  Mr.  Solomons  related  the  following 
reminiscences : 

One  day  while  I  was  in  the  White  House  waiting  to  see  the 
President  I  found  myself  in  line  with  fifty  others  and  had  to 
wait  my  turn.  Right  in  front  of  me  was  a  tall,  stupid-appearing 
fellow,  and  I  wondered  what  in  the  world  his  mission  was.  The 
man  said  to  the  President,  "  I  see  that  you  are  rather  busy  today, 
and  I  will  come  in  some  other  time  to  tell  you  what  a  contraband 
told  me";  whereupon  the  President  interrupted  him  by  a  slap 
on  the  shoulder  and  with  a  steady  look  at  his  muddy  clothing  and 
boots,  and  looking  at  his  shaggy  red  hair  exclaimed: 

"  Excepting  myself  you  are  the  homeliest  man  I  ever  set  eyes 
on.  But  that  makes  no  difference:  sit  right  down  and  tell  me  all 


you  know."  As  he  said  this  Lincoln  winked  at  me  over  the 
stranger's  shoulder,  and  added,  "  And  it  certainly  cannot  take 
you  long."  Evidently  the  man  did  not  see  the  joke,  for  he  told 
a  short  story  and  was  soon  out  of  the  room. 

On  another  occasion,  when  I  was  present,  a  Mr.  Addison,  a 
Federal  officer  from  Baltimore,  called  upon  Lincoln  to  tender  his 
resignation,  whereupon  Lincoln  said:  "All  right,  Addison,  I 
accept  your  resignation  but  nothing  can  compensate  me  for  the 
loss  of  you,  for  when  you  retire  I  will  be  the  ugliest  man  left  in 
the  employ  of  the  Government " — again  emphasizing  that  he 
thought  himself  no  beauty. 

The  day  that  Lincoln  issued  one  of  his  early  war  proclamations 
I  chanced  to  be  at  the  White  House  with  a  distinguished  New 
York  Rabbi,  Dr.  Morris  J.  Raphall,  who  came  to  Washington  to 
ask  for  the  promotion  of  his  son  Alfred,  from  a  second  to  a  first 
lieutenancy  in  the  army.  The  White  House  was  closed  for  the 
day  when  we  got  there,  but  upon  sending  up  my  card  we  gained 
admittance  and  after  Lincoln  had  heard  the  Rabbi's  request  he 
blurted  out,  "  As  God's  minister  is  it  not  your  first  duty  to  be  at 
home  today  to  pray  with  your  people  for  the  success  of  our  arms, 
as  is  being  done  in  every  loyal  church  throughout  the  North, 
East  and  West?  "  The  Rabbi,  evidently  ashamed  at  his  faux  pas, 
blushing  made  answer:  "My  assistant  is  doing  that  duty." 
"  Ah,"  said  Lincoln,  "  that  is  different."  The  President  then 
drew  forth  a  small  card  and  wrote  the  following  upon  it: 

"  The  Secretary  of  war  will  promote  Second  Lieutenant  Raphall 
to  a  First  Lieutenantcy. 

A.  LINCOLN." 

Handing  the  card  to  the  Rabbi  he  said,  with  a  smile  all  his 
own:  "Now  doctor,  you  can  go  home  and  do  your  own  praying." 

Referring  to  this  interview,  in  an  address  on  Lincoln  at 
his  synagogue  B'nai  Jeshurun,  New  York,  April  19,  1865,  Dr. 
Raphall  said  that  he  had  seen  the  President  but  once,  he  had 
asked  him  but  one  favor,  but  that  time  he  granted  it  freely, 
he  had  granted  it  lovingly  "  because  he  knew  the  speaker  was 
a  Jew — because  he  knew  him  to  be  a  true  servant  of  the 
Lord/' 

The  last  photograph  of  President  Lincoln,  taken  shortly 
before  his  assassination,  was  made  in  the  gallery  attached 
to  the  Philip  and  Solomons'  establishment  in  Washing- 


30 


ton.  After  Mr.  Solomons  retired  from  the  business  the  plates 
and  negatives  of  the  firm  passed  to  Alexander  Gardner  who 
was  in  charge  of  the  portraiture  branch  and  subsequently  a 
partner  in  the  concern.  In  the  American  Hebrew  of  February 
12,  1909,  Mr.  Solomons  gives  the  following  account  of  Mr. 
Lincoln's  sitting  for  this  picture : 

As  many  statements  have  been  made  relating  to  the  "  last  photo 
graph  "  Mr.  Lincoln  sat  for,  I  feel  assured  that  the  following  dis 
poses  of  the  fact: 

During  the  early  60's  our  bookselling  and  publishing  firm  of 
Philip  &  Solomons,  located  at  911  Pennsylvania  avenue  in  this 
city,  had  a  large  photograph  branch  in  the  upper  part  of  the  build 
ing,  under  the  charge  of  Alexander  Gardner  who  was  well  known 
for  his  celebrated  "  Photographic  Sketch  Book  of  the  War  "  in 
two  oblong  folio  volumes,  in  which  Mr.  Lincoln  was  a  frequent 
and  conspicuous  figure  in  camp  and  battle  fields. 

One  day  while  in  his  office  I  casually  remarked  that  I  would 
like  very  much  for  him  to  give  us  another  sitting  as  those  we  had 
been  favored  with  were  unsatisfactory  to  us,  and  would  he  permit 
us  to  try  again,  to  which  he  willingly  assented. 

Not  long  afterwards  he  sent  word  that  he  could  "  come  on  some 
Sunday,"  and  a  date  was  arranged,  which  was  the  second  Sunday 
previous  to  the  Friday  night  when  the  assassin,  Wilkes  Booth,  in 
cold  blood  shot  to  death  one  of  the  most  beloved  men  God  ever 
created. 

At  the  time  named  by  appointment,  he  came  and  at  my  first 
glance  I  saw,  with  regret,  that  he  wore  a  troubled  expression, 
which,  however,  was  not  unusual  at  that  eventful  period  of  our 
country's  fitful  condition,  and  throwing  aside  on  a  chair  the  gray 
woolen  shawl  he  was  accustomed  to  wear,  Mr.  Gardner,  after  sev 
eral  squints  at  his  general  make-up,  placed  him  in  an  artistic 
position  and  began  his  work. 

After  several  "  snaps,"  during  which  the  President  while  mak 
ing  jocular  remarks,  had  completely  upset  the  operator's  calcula 
tions,  I  followed  Mr.  Gardner  into  his  "  dark  room  "  and  learned 
to  my  sorrow  that  he  had  not  succeeded  in  getting  even  a  fair  ex 
pression  of  his  mobile  countenance,  and  therefore  was  much 
discouraged,  which,  however,  was  but  a  repetition  of  former 
occasions. 

I  courageously  named  the  result  of  my  investigation  to  Mr. 
Lincoln,  whereupon  he,  noticing,  perhaps,  my  disappointment, 


31 

said  to  me,  "  tell  Mr.  Gardner  to  come  out  in  the  open  " — referring 
to  the  "  dark  room," — "  and  you,  Solomons  tell  me  one  of  your 
funny  stories  and  we  will  see  if  I  can't  do  better." 

I  complied  as  best  I  could,  and  the  result  was  the  likeness  as 
reproduced. 

This  portrait  is  identical  with  the  one  published  by  the 
Sprague  &  Hathaway  Co.,  of  West  Somerville,  Mass.,  which 
they  informed  the  writer  was  made  by  them  from  an  old- 
fashioned  wet  plate  owned  by  Watson  Porter,  photographer  to 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  by  whom  it  was  sold  to  Henry  M. 
Williams,  a  lawyer  and  capitalist  at  Fort  Wayne,  Indiana, 
whose  father  was  a  personal  friend  of  Lincoln.  By  what  means 
Porter  came  into  the  possession  of  this  negative  is  not  known. 

Joseph  Seligman,  formerly  of  the  New  York  banking  firm 
of  J.  and  W.  Seligman  &  Co.,  had  close  relations  with  Presi 
dent  Lincoln,  by  whom  he  was  called  to  Washington  for  con 
sultation  with  himself  and  Secretary  Chase,  on  matters  of 
finance.  Many  of  the  issues  of  government  bonds  were  placed 
by  the  Seligmans  in  Frankfort  and  Amsterdam.  This  action, 
at  a  time  when  the  nation's  credit  was  low  and  its  fate  un 
certain,  elicited  frequent  expressions  of  commendation  from 
the  President.  The  appointment  of  General  Grant  to  the  su 
preme  command  of  the  army  was  in  a  large  measure  due  to 
Joseph  Seligman's  influence  with  Lincoln,  as  he  had  known 
Grant  before  the  war  and  recognized  his  fitness  for  the  duties. 
Mr.  Seligman  entertained  a  strong  affection  for  the  President, 
which  was  fully  reciprocated.  He  was  in  Frankfort  at  the  time 
of  Lincoln's  assassination  and  his  grief  in  learning  the  news 
was  poignant.  Eeferring  to  that  event  in  later  years  he  often 
declared  to  his  children  that  not  only  had  a  noble  man  fallen 
by  the  hand  of  an  assassin  but  also  that  the  South  had  lost  its 
best  friend.  Mr.  Seligman  was  with  others,  instrumental  in 
aiding  Mrs.  Lincoln  after  the  death  of  her  husband,  whereby 
her  wants  were  much  alleviated.  To  his  son,  Mr.  Isaac  N. 
Seligman,  of  New  York,  we  are  indebted  for  the  foregoing 
details. 


PRESIDENTIAL  ELECTORS  AND  DELEGATES. 

Two  electoral  votes  were  cast  for  Lincoln  by  Jews,  one  in 
the  election  of  1860,  another  in  that  of  1864.  Two  Jews 
served  as  delegates  in  the  Republican  National  Convention  of 
1860  and  one  in  that  of  1864. 

Sigismund  Kaufmann,  a  member  of  the  bar  and  a  native 
of  Darmstadt,  Germany,  was  a  Eepublican  Presidential  elector 
for  the  State  of  New  York  in  1860.  He  had  taken  part  in 
the  German  revolution  of  1848-49,  was  a  man  of  brilliant 
parts  and  was  at  this  period  in  his  thirty-fifth  year.  Kauf- 
mann  was  the  representative  of  the  German  Republican  ele 
ment  in  the  United  States.  He  wrote  for  the  Staats-Z 'eitung , 
founded  the  New  York  Turn  Verein,  and  the  Legal  Aid 
Society,  was  President  of  the  German  Society  of  the  City  of 
New  York,  a  commissioner  of  immigration,  and  a  director  of 
the  Hebrew  Orphan  Asylum.  At  the  age  of  twenty-seven  he 
addressed  anti-slavery  meetings  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
speaking  one  evening  in  English,  German,  and  French.  With 
his  fellow-members  of  the  Electoral  College  he  went  to  the 
Astor  House  to  see  Mr.  Lincoln  on  his  arrival  in  New  York 
in  February,  1861.  On  being  presented  Lincoln  remarked, 
"  I  know  enough  German  to  know  that  Kaufmann  means 
merchant/5  Then  he  added,  as  if  to  emphasize  his  linguistic 
accomplishments,  "  And  Schneider  means  tailor — am  I  not 
a  good  German  scholar?  "  (See  New  York  Tribune,  February 
21,  1861.) 

The  President  shortly  after  his  inauguration  offered  Kauf 
mann  the  post  of  Minister  to  Italy.  He  declined  it  on  the 
ground  that  he  could  be  more  useful  to  his  party  at  home. 
Kaufmann  was  an  important  factor  in  the  distribution  of 
Federal  patronage  in  the  State  of  New  York  and  wielded 
much  influence  with  the  Lincoln  administration.  He  secured 
for  Franz  Sigel  an  appointment  as  Colonel  of  a  Missouri  regi 
ment  on  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War  in  response  to  an 
urgent  appeal  from  Sigel  then  at  St.  Louis  asking  "What 


33 


shall  I  do  ?  "  to  which  Kauf  mann  replied,  "  Organize  a  regi 
ment.  I  will  attend  to  the  rest."  Mr.  Kaufmann  in  1870 
was  an  unsuccessful  candidate  for  Lieutenant-Governor  of  the 
State  of  New  York,  Stewart  L.  Woodford  being  the  nominee 
for  Governor. 

The  emancipation  proclamation  Kaufmann  regarded  as  the 
transcendant  act  of  Lincoln's  administration.  In  the  course 
of  an  address  to  the  German  Republicans  in  1879  in  opposi 
tion  to  a  third  term  for  President  Grant  he  declared  : 

The  proclamation  of  Abraham  Lincoln  freeing  the  slaves  was 
the  greatest  victory  for  the  Federal  cause  of  the  War.  It  shed  no 
drop  of  blood,  it  cost  no  treasure.  Where  graves  are  the  monu 
ments  of  Grant's  victories,  millions  of  free  men  are  the  trophies 
Lincoln  won. 

Kaufmann  died  in  Berlin  in  1889,  aged  65  years. 

In  the  Presidential  campaign  of  1864,  Abram  J.  Ditten- 
hoefer  was  a  Presidential  elector  for  the  State  of  New  York 
on  the  Eepublican  ticket.  He  was  born  in  South  Carolina  in 
1836  and  is  a  lawyer  by  profession. 

Mr.  Dittenhoefer  heard  Lincoln's  Cooper  Institute  speech 
in  1859  and  was  then  introduced  to  him.  He  did  not  become 
intimate  with  him,  however,  until  after  the  Presidential  elec 
tion  of  1864.  Thereafter  he  called  upon  the  President  a 
number  of  times  at  the  White  House.  The  President  seemed 
pleased  to  see  his  visitor  and  spent  quite  a  time  in  conver 
sation,  generally  about  New  York  politics.  Of  these  inter 
views  Mr.  Dittenhoefer,  in  a  communication  to  the  writer, 
said  : 

While  an  air  of  melancholy  seemed  always  to  suffuse  his  feat 
ures,  I  always  regarded  President  Lincoln  as  the  most  genial 
of  men.  I  often  found  him  sitting  in  the  business  office  of  the 
White  House  having  on  a  black,  threadbare,  alpaca  coat,  out  at 
the  elbows  and  in  slippers.  I  could  always  notice  when  he  was 
about  to  indulge  in  a  jest,  which  he  frequently  did  in  the  midst 
of  the  most  serious  conversation;  a  sort  of  half  suppressed  smile 
would  appear  on  that  strong  face  for  a  brief  interval  before  the 


34 


jest  was  given,  as  if  he  was  anticipating  the  pleasure  it  would 
give  in  the  hearing  of  it.  I  remember  distinctly  presenting  to 
him  the  ballot  I  had  cast  as  one  of  the  Presidential  electors  for 
him  in  the  New  York  college  of  electors.  Looking  at  it  a  few 
minutes,  he  said,  "  It  represents  the  power  and  dignity  of  the 
American  people  and  the  grandeur  of  American  institutions." 
In  thanking  me  for  giving  it  to  him  he  said  he  would  leave  it  to 
his  children  as  a  memento.  I  saw  him  in  Washington  a  few  days 
before  his  death.  He  seemed  then  to  be  in  the  best  of  spirits 
and  spoke  of  the  great  work  that  was  before  him  in  completing 
the  restoration  of  harmony  and  peace  between  the  North  and 
the  South. 

The  friends  of  Dittenhoefer  early  during  the  war,  knowing 
that  he  was  a  South  Carolinian,  filed  an  application  for  his 
appointment  as  United  States  Judge  of  that  State.  Nothing, 
he  says,  was  heard  of  the  matter  for  a  year  or  two,  when  a 
Mrs.  Carson,  a  daughter  of  the  only  Union  man  in  South 
Carolina,  who  had  been  driven  from  the  State  for  his  loyalty, 
wrote  to  him  that  she  had  been  directed  by  Lincoln  to  examine 
the  applications  on  file  and  make  her  recommendation  to  him. 
This  she  did  and  seeing  Dittenhoefer's  name  among  the  appli 
cants  recommended  his  appointment,  which  the  President 
promised  to  make.  Shortly  thereafter  Dittenhoefer  received 
a  letter  from  one  of  Lincoln's  private  secretaries  saying  that 
the  President  was  going  to  nominate  him  for  that  judgeship, 
but  his  business  having  meanwhile  increased  and  being  unwill 
ing  to  take  up  his  residence  in  the  South  he  at  once  replied 
that  he  could  not  accept  the  nomination. 

Mr.  Dittenhoefer  was  in  later  life  appointed  a  justice  of  the 
City  Court  of  New  York.  He  was  a  delegate  to  several 
Eepublican  National  Conventions  and  acted  for  twelve  years 
as  chairman  of  the  Eepublican  Central  Committee  of  New 
York  City  where  he  now  resides.  For  further  details  about 
him  and  Lincoln  see  New  York  Herald,  November  22,  1908. 

In  the  Eepublican  State  Convention  held  at  St.  Louis  on 
February  12,  1860,  Moritz  Pinner,  one  of  its  members,  was 
elected  a  delegate  to  the  National  Eepublican  Convention  to 


35 


be  held  in  Chicago  the  following  May.  Pinner  was  a  young 
German  of  thirty-two  engaged  in  the  publication  of  a  Ger 
man  newspaper  devoted  to  the  anti-slavery  cause.  The  St. 
Louis  Republican  of  February  13,  1860,  gives  a  detailed  ac 
count  of  the  proceedings  of  this  State  Convention  in  which 
Pinner  seems  to  have  been  very  prominent,  being  especially 
active  in  his  efforts  to  defeat  the  endorsement  of  Edward 
Bates  of  Missouri  for  the  Presidency.  The  friends  of  Bates, 
constituting  a  majority  in  the  Missouri  Convention,  having 
introduced  a  resolution  instructing  the  national  delegates  to 
vote  as  a  unit  for  the  Presidential  nominee,  Pinner  announced 
his  resignation  as  a  delegate  to  Chicago,  the  convention  imme 
diately  adjourning  without  taking  action  thereon,  thus  leav 
ing  him  free  to  attend  the  National  Convention  where  he 
further  devoted  his  attention  to  the  prevention  of  Bates'  en 
dorsement  by  the  Illinois  delegation.  This  being  accom 
plished  he  took  no  further  part  in  the  deliberations  of  the 
convention  and  kept  aloof  from  the  Missouri  delegation,  whose 
leaders  Frank  P.  Blair  and  B.  Gratz  Brown  he  had  antagon 
ized  in  their  efforts  to  secure  the  nomination  of  Bates.  The 
consequence  was  that  he  failed  to  record  his  vote  on  either  of 
the  three  ballots  which  resulted  in  the  choice  of  Lincoln. 

Pinner's  name  does  not  appear  on  the  official  roll  of  Mis 
souri  delegates  to  the  convention.  This  omission  he  explains 
to  the  writer  as  "  spite  work  "  of  Gratz  Brown  for  his  anti- 
Bates  activity.  Pinner  favored  the  nomination  of  William 
H.  Seward,  but  now  in  the  light  of  history  is  extremely 
thankful  that  Lincoln  was  nominated  and  elected.  While  he 
made  no  effort  to  secure  Lincoln's  nomination  he  worked 
earnestly  for  his  election  and  believes  that  "  by  preventing  the 
nomination  of  Bates  he  paved  the  way  for  Lincoln  and  made 
his  nomination  possible  and  his  election  probable." 

Pinner  informs  the  writer  that  he  became  acquainted  with 
Lincoln  in  Chicago  during  the  Presidential  campaign  of  1856 
and  saw  him  quite  often  during  the  Lincoln-Douglas  debates 
in  1858.  After  Lincoln's  nomination  he  met  him  in  Spring- 


36 

field  and  was  there  introduced  to  Mrs.  Lincoln  with  whom  he 
had  a  pleasant  chat.  He  frequently  saw  the  President  after 
his  election  and  was  by  him  offered  the  mission  to  Honduras 
which  he  declined,  preferring  to  enter  the  army.  Appointed 
by  General  Philip  Kearney  Brigade  Quartermaster  on  his 
staff,  Secretary  Stanton  resented  Kearney's  action,  claiming 
the  sole  right  of  such  appointments.  An  appeal  to  Lincoln 
followed.  The  latter's  intervention,  Pinner  says,  secured  a 
prompt  adjustment  of  the  controversy  but  not  before  its  con 
sideration  by  a  full  cabinet  meeting  called  for  that  purpose. 
Pinner's  commission  followed  at  once.  This  document,  signed 
by  Lincoln  and  Stanton,  he  has  shown  to  the  writer.  Since 
the  war  Pinner  has  been  engaged  in  real  estate  enterprises 
and  the  study  of  economic  questions.  He  is  now  living  in 
Elizabeth,  N.  J. 

In  the  same  convention  with  Pinner  was  Lewis  N.  Dembitz, 
a  delegate  from  the  city  of  Louisville,  Ky.,  who  was  born  in 
Prussia  in  1833.  He  was  educated  abroad  and  read  law  at 
Cincinnati  and  Madison,  Ind.  From  1884  to  1888  he  was 
assistant  city  attorney  for  Louisville  and  drafted  the  first 
American  law  establishing  the  Australian  ballot  for  the  Louis 
ville  election  in  1888.  He  was  a  prolific  writer,  some  of  his 
works  being:  Kentucky  Jurisprudence,  Law  Language  for 
Short-Hand  Writers,  Land  Titles  in  the  United  States  and 
Jewish  Services  in  Synagogue  and  Home.  He  also  con 
tributed  many  articles  to  Jewish  periodicals.  Dembitz  was 
very  proud  of  having  served  as  a  delegate  in  the  convention 
of  1860  and  of  voting  for  Lincoln,  whom  he  much  admired 
but  never  met,  a  fact  which  he  always  regretted. 

Maier  Hirsch,  a  merchant  of  Salem,  Oregon,  was  one  of  the 
six  delegates  from  Oregon  to  the  Republican  National  Con 
vention  of  1864.  He  came  from  Hohebach,  Wiirttemberg,  in 
1852,  and  had  lived  in  Oregon  for  twelve  years,  his  home 
being  in  Salem.  He  was  a  brother  of  Solomon  Hirsch, 
United  States  Minister  to  Turkey  from  1889  to  1892,  and  of 
Edward  Hirsch,  at  one  time  State  Treasurer  and  later  on  a 


37 


State  Senator  of  Oregon.  While  prominent  and  influential 
in  the  councils  of  the  ^Republican  party  in  Oregon  and  fre 
quently  asked  to  stand  for  the  legislature,  Hirsch  steadily  re 
fused  the  candidacy  for  any  office  save  that  of  delegate  to  the 
convention  of  1864  in  which  he  appeared  as  an  inconspicuous 
figure  taking  no  part  in  the  proceedings  beyond  voting  with 
his  delegation  for  Lincoln  whom  he  much  admired.  He 
thereafter  disappeared  from  public  view,  settling  in  New 
York  City  in  1874,  where  he  died  two  years  later  at  the  age 
of  forty-seven. 

DEMONSTRATIONS  FOLLOWING  THE  ASSASSINATION. 
In  the  manifestation  of  the  public  grief  following  the  death 
of  President  Lincoln,  which  event  "  arrested  the  daily  con 
cerns  of  the  whole  civilized  world  "  the  Jews  everywhere  were 
prominent.  Occurring  as  it  did  on  the  Jewish  Sabbath,  the 
first  pulpit  utterances  were  heard  in  the  synagogues,  the  gen 
eral  character  of  the  services  therein  being  thus  described  by 
the  New  York  Times  of  April  21,  1865 : 

The  American  flag  was  half-masted  and  the  banner  itself  often 
enshrouded  with  folds  of  crape;  long  festoons  of  black  and  white 
overhanging  the  entrance  doors.  The  galleries  were  draped  in 
black  and  the  huge  tapers  almost  concealed  beneath  the  sombre 
cloths  of  mourning.  In  all  the  synagogues,  as  on  Saturday  last, 
the  prayers  for  the  dead  and  dying  were  repeated  by  the  min 
isters  and  sorrow-stricken  people  and  the  buildings  were  crowded 
with  assemblages  whose  earnest  attention  and  fervent  responses 
to  the  supplications  of  the  officiating  clergymen  gave  evidence  of 
the  deep  grief  that  bowed  down  the  hearts  of  the  congregation. 

The  Times  states  that  the  services  on  April  17,  1865,  at 
the  Synagogue  Shaary  Zedek,  Rev.  Mr.  Menks  officiating, 
lasted  from  8.30  a.  m.  to  1  p.  m. 

In  the  Synagogue  Shearith  Israel  of  New  York,  the  rabbi 
recited  an  Hazcarah  (prayer  for  the  dead)  for  Lincoln.  This, 
according  to  the  Jewish  Messenger,  was  the  first  time  that 
prayer  had  been  said  in  a  Jewish  house  of  worship  for  any 
other  than  those  professing  the  Jewish  religion.  The  innova- 


38 


tion  provoked  very  strong  remonstrance  in  some  Jewish  quar 
ters.  Eev.  Mr.  Leeser,  however,  took  a  liberal  view.  Address 
ing  the  Hebrew  Congregation  in  Washington  he  declared  that : 

Prayers  for  the  deceased  President  were  in  accordance  with  the 
spirit  of  the  faith  which  the  Jews  inherited  as  children  of  Israel 
who  recognized  in  all  men  those  created  like  them  in  the  image 
of  God,  and  all  entitled  to  his  mercy,  grace  and  pardon,  though 
they  have  not  yet  learned  to  worship  and  adore  Him  as  they  do 
who  have  been  specially  selected  as  the  bearers  of  His  law. 

The  number  of  Jews  taking  part  in  the  funeral  procession 
in  the  city  of  Washington  was  about  125,  mainly  members  of 
the  "  Hebrew  Congregation "  under  the  marshalship  of  B. 
Kaufman. 

Of  the  50,000  who  marched  in  procession  in  the  city  of 
New  York,  7000,  according  to  the  Jewish  Messenger,  were 
Jews,  chiefly  members  of  the  orders  of  B'nai  B'rith,  B'nai 
Mosheh  and  Free  Sons  of  Israel,  including  some  2000  who 
paraded  with  the  Masonic,  military  and  other  organizations. 
The  Free  Sons  of  Israel  carried  a  banner  with  the  inscription : 

The  Father  of  his  Country  is  Dead 

The  Nation  Mourns  him 

LINCOLN 
He  is  not  dead  but  he  still  lives  in 

the  hearts  of  the  Nation. 

The  Henry  Clay  Debating  Association  of  forty  members, 
Samuel  Adler,  president,  was  assigned  a  place  in  the  proces 
sion,  as  were  the  employes  of  Heineman  and  Silberman's 
factory.  Following  the  funeral  procession  in  the  city  of  New 
York  a  memorial  meeting  was  held  in  Union  Square  under 
the  direction  of  100  leading  citizens,  Martin  H.  Levin,  a 
merchant  of  prominence,  being  the  only  Jew  among  them. 
George  Bancroft  was  the  orator  and  to  Rabbi  Samuel  M. 
Isaacs  was  assigned  the  reading  of  the  Scripture.  Eef erring 


39 


to  this  meeting  Bishop  Simpson  said  in  his  oration  at  the 
burial  in  Springfield: 

The  Archbishop  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  New  York 
and  a  Protestant  minister  walked  side  by  side  in  the  procession, 
and  a  Jewish  rabbi  performed  a  part  of  the  funeral  service. 

Most  of  the  synagogues  and  Jewish  organizations  of  the  city 
were  represented  at  this  gathering,  delegations  being  present 
from  the  Board  of  Delegates  of  American  Israelites,  the 
Purim  Association,  the  Jerusalem  Society,  the  Mutual  Benefit 
and  Burial  Society,  Young  Men's  Hebrew  Benevolent  Fuel 
Association,  Hebrew  Benevolent  Society  and  Orphan  Asylum, 
and  Congregations  B'nai  Jeshurun,  Shaarai  Tefila,  Anshe 
Chesed,  Eodef  Sholom,  B'nai  Israel,  Ahawath  Chesed,  Beth 
Israel,  Bikur  Cholim  Kadisha,  Atereth  Israel  and  Mishkan 
Israel. 

The  Jews  of  Boston  joined  in  a  funeral  procession  which 
ended  at  the  Temple  Ohabei  Shalom,  where  an  address  was 
delivered  by  Rev.  David  Myers.  In  the  Tribute  of  Nations 
covering  1200  contributions  from  every  portion  of  the  civil 
ized  world  and  published  by  order  of  Congress  in  1867  the 
resolutions  of  this  congregation  appear  in  full,  being,  strange 
to  say,  the  only  tribute  from  American  Jewish  sources  in  the 
entire  volume.  They  read  as  follows : 

BOSTON,  April  16,  1865. 

At  a  vestry  meeting  held  this  day  by  the  Hebrew  Congregation 
Ohabei  Shalom,  worshipping  in  Warren  street  synagogue,  a  com 
mittee  was  appointed  to  draw  up  resolutions  in  regard  to  the  late 
lamentable  national  calamity,  and  the  following  preamble  and 
resolutions  were  drawn  up  and  passed  unanimously: 

Whereas  it  has  pleased  an  all-merciful  Father  to  remove  from 
our  midst  his  Excellency  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN,  President  of  these 
United  States  of  America,  by  death,  at  a  moment  when  the  whole 
nation  rejoiced  in  the  promised  peace  of  our  distracted  country; 
and 

Whereas  this  death  has  been  caused  by  the  foul  hand  of  an 
assassin,  who  came  unawares  upon  his  illustrious  victim  while 


40 


enjoying  relaxation  from  his  arduous  duties,  in  the  company  of 
the  partner  of  his  bosom;  and 

Whereas  feeling  that  this  calamity  concerns  every  individual, 
not  alone  in  this  country,  but  throughout  the  civilized  world, 
affecting  as  it  does  the  capability  of  mankind  to  govern  them 
selves,  and  dealing  a  fearful  blow  against  republican  institutions: 
Therefore, 

Resolved,  That  we,  the  congregation  "  Ohabei  Shalom,"  of  the 
city  of  Boston,  deeply  deplore  this  sad  event,  and  we  humbly  bow 
to  our  Heavenly  Father,  praying  this  last,  his  "  greatest  sacri 
fice  "  of  all  will  suffice  "  the  monster  moloch,"  and  that  the  Lord 
our  God  will  be  pleased  to  sanctify  the  death  of  our  Chief  Magis 
trate  to  the  end  that  no  more  victims  shall  be  required  to  end 
this  unholy  war. 

Resolved,  that  with  grief  and  horror  we  noticed  the  attempted 
double  assassination  of  the  Secretary  of  State  of  the  United 
States,  Mr.  Seward,  and  his  family,  one  ripe  in  years,  wisdom 
and  honor;  that  this  attempted  assassination  is  scarcely  less  to 
be  deplored  than  that  of  the  Chief  Magistrate,  whose  death  the 
nation  now  mourns,  and  that  no  words  can  convey  the  deep  sor 
row  which  we  feel  within  us  that  the  first  officer  of  the  coun 
try  should  thus  be  cut  off  from  among  us  at  the  moment  when 
his  wisdom  and  prudence  were  about  to  lead  us  out  of  the  chaos 
of  war  to  the  paradise  of  peace. 

Resolved,  That  we  deeply  sympathize  with  the  bereaved  family 
of  the  late  most  worthy  Chief  Magistrate,  and  that  no  words  of 
ours  can  convey  the  deep  shock,  the  thrill  of  horror,  the  unspeak 
able  agony  with  which  the  sad  tidings  were  received  by  our 
community.  But  we  hope  that  He  who  tempers  the  winds  to  the 
shorn  lamb — He  who  was  from  the  "  beginning  "  "  the  protector  " 
of  the  "  widow  and  orphan,"  will  also  vouchsafe  to  be  the  pro 
tector  of  the  family  of  the  lamented  dead  (dead  in  the  flesh,  but 
living  in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen).  May  he  temper  their 
grief,  and  let  them  remember,  and  let  us  hope,  that  the  good 
deeds  done  by  him  whilst  on  earth  will  intercede  for  him  before 
the  throne  of  Almighty  God,  and  that  the  throne  of  martyrdom 
be  sanctified  unto  him. 

Resolved,  That  the  synagogue  shall  be  draped  in  mourning  for 
thirty  days  and  that  a  prayer  for  the  dead  shall  be  chanted  every 
Sabbath  day  and  Mondays  and  Thursdays  during  that  time. 

Resolved,  That  on  the  day  of  the  funeral  of  the  lamented  dead, 
a  funeral  sermon  shall  be  preached  in  the  synagogue,  and  that 


41 


we,  the  members  of  this  congregation,  unanimously  resolve  to 
close  our  places  of  business  on  that  day  for  the  purpose  of  keep 
ing  it  as  a  day  of  mourning. 

Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  the  above  resolutions  be  forwarded  to 
the  widow  of  the  lamented  President,  as  also  to  the  family  of  the 
Secretary  of  State;  that  they  be  sealed  with  the  seal  of  the  con 
gregation  and  signed  by  the  president  and  vice-president  and 
secretary. 

Resolved,  That  the  above  resolutions  be  entered  on  the  minutes 
of  the  congregation  and  published  in  the  Post,  Journal,  and 
Herald,  newspapers  of  this  city. 

Done  the  19th  day  of  Nisan,  of  the  year  of  the  creation  5260 — 
April  16,  1865. 

S.  MYERS,  President. 

[Seal.]  S.  STEINBURG,  V 'ice-President. 

N.  EHRLICH,  Secretary. 

The  Boston  Traveller  of  April  20,  1865,  notes  that  "  Solemn 
and  appropriate  services  were  held  at  both  the  Jewish  Syna 
gogues/'  the  second  house  of  worship  being  undoubtedly  that 
of  the  Reform  Congregation  Adath  Israel  of  which  Eev. 
Joseph  Schoninger  was  rabbi.  There  were  at  this  time  two 
other  synagogues  in  Boston,  Mishkan  Israel,  Rev.  Alexis  Alex 
ander  rabbi,  and  the  Dutch  Jews'  synagogue,  the  rabbi  of 
which  is  unknown. 

The  United  Hebrew  Congregation  of  St.  Louis,  A.  S. 
Isaacs,  president,  ordered  their  place  of  worship  draped  in 
mourning  and  that  the  members  wear  the  usual  badge  of 
mourning  for  thirty  days.  The  congregation  was  addressed 
by  Dr.  Henry  Vidaver.  At  the  Synagogue  B'nai  Israel  in 
the  same  city  Rev.  Mr.  Kittner  spoke.  The  Hebrew  Young 
Men's  Literary  Association  of  St.  Louis  adopted  resolutions 
drawn  up  by  a  committee  composed  of  S.  H.  Lazarus,  J.  R. 
Jacobs,  and  A.  S.  Aloe  which  were  published  in  the  Mis 
souri  Republican  of  April  19,  1865.  The  Congregation 
Emanu-El  of  San  Francisco  was  addressed  on  the  day  of  the 
President's  death  by  Rev.  Dr.  Elkan  Cohn,  who  was  handed 
a  despatch  announcing  the  assassination  just  as  he  was  going 


42 


into  his  pulpit  to  deliver  the  weekly  sermon.  Rev.  B.  H. 
Gotthelf  addressed  the  Congregation  Adath  Israel  of  Louis 
ville.  Congregation  Mickve  Israel  of  Philadelphia  adopted 
resolutions  in  which  Lincoln  was  described  as 

One  of  the  best  and  purest  presidents,  who  like  the  law-giver 
Moses  brought  a  nation  to  the  verge  of  the  haven  of  peace,  and 
like  him  was  not  allowed  to  participate  in  its  consummation. 

In  the  Brevard  Street  Synagogue,  Detroit,  Michigan,  Rev. 
Dr.  Isidore  Kalisch  delivered  an  eloquent  address  dwelling 
especially  on  Lincoln's  proclamation  of  emancipation  and 
likening  him  to  Moses.  He  also  referred  to  the  President's 
tolerant  views,  citing  as  an  instance  his  action  in  reference  to 
the  appointment  of  Jewish  Chaplains  for  the  army. 

According  to  the  Chicago  Evening  Journal  of  May  2,  1865, 
the  Jews  were  represented  in  the  funeral  procession  in  that 
city  by  the  Hebrew  Benevolent  Association  and  Congregation 
Bikur  Cholim.  The  establishment  of  Stein,  Kramer  and  Com 
pany  draped  their  store  elaborately  and  a  portrait  of  Lincoln, 
heavily  draped,  occupied  a  place  in  the  window.  Foreman 
Brothers  displayed  a  motto  reading : 

"  FIRST  IN  THE  RACE  THAT  LED  TO  GLORY'S  GOAL." 
Say  Nicolay  and  Hay : 

The  President's  body  rested  in  the  Court  House  in  Chicago  for 
two  days  under  a  canopy  of  sombre  richness  inscribed  with  that 
noble  Hebrew  lament:  "  The  Beauty  of  Israel  is  Slain  upon  the 
High  Places." 

Two  congregations  in  Albany,  N.  Y.,  were  conspicuous  in 
the  demonstrations.  Rev.  Max  Schlesinger  spoke  at  the 
Temple  Anshe  Emeth,  and  the  Congregation  Beth  El  held  a 
special  meeting  at  which  elaborate  resolutions  were  adopted. 
These  were  published  in  full  in  the  Evening  Journal  of  that 
city  of  April  20  and  the  Argus  of  April  21,  1865.  This  con 
gregation  voted  to  hold  services  three  times  on  the  day  of  the 
funeral,  first  at  6  a.  m.  for  morning  prayers,  at  10  a.  m.  for 
a  sermon  by  the  Rev.  J.  Gotthold,  rabbi  of  the  congregation, 
and  at  6  p.  m.  for  evening  prayers. 


43 


The  resolutions  of  the  Washington  Literary  and  Dramatic 
Association,  adopted  on  April  18,  1865,  were  published  in  full 
in  the  Washington  National  Intelligencer  of  April  24.  They 
were  drawn  up  by  a  committee  composed  of  S.  Wolf,  Julius 
Lowenthal,  F.  P.  Stanton,  A.  Hart,  and  J.  Stralitz,  and  read : 

By  the  death  of  Abraham  Lincoln  the  nation  has  sustained  an 
irreparable  loss,  freedom  her  brightest  and  purest  champion, 
humanity  her  greatest  benefactor,  who,  more  than  any  other 
whose  name  history  transmits,  deserves  the  poet's  tribute  of 
being  "  A  man  take  him  for  all  in  all  we  ne'er  shall  look  upon  his 
like  again."  He  has  immortalized  the  country  over  which  he  so 
worthily  presided  by  ever  remaining  true  to  freedom  and  the  con 
stitution  affected  by  his  inspiration;  his  heroism,  statesmanship 
and  kindness  of  heart  during  the  trying  ordeal  of  this  accursed 
rebellion  will  be  the  marvel,  and  command  the  admiration  of 
future  ages  as  they  have  aroused  the  fervent  homage  of  the 
present;  the  Emancipator  stands  side  by  side  in  our  affection  and 
esteem  with  the  Father  of  his  country. 

While  we  mourn  this  great  loss  we  utter  our  respectful  pro 
test  against  any  leniency  towards  the  responsible  leaders  of  this 
accursed  deed;  this  is  yet  and  ever  shall  be  a  government  of  the 
people,  more  slow  to  anger  but  sure  to  avenge;  we  extend  to 
Andrew  Johnson,  the  President  of  the  United  States,  our  assur 
ances  of  esteem  and  confidence  and  readiness  to  sustain  him  in 
all  acts  that  will  redound  to  the  glory  and  perpetuity  of  our 
beloved  country. 

Eesolutions  were  drawn  by  a  committee  of  the  Hebrew 
Benevolent  Society  of  New  York,  composed  of  P.  Franken- 
heimer,  Philip  Spier,  M.  Mayer,  I.  S.  Solomons,  and  I. 
Phillips. 

District  Grand  Lodge  No.  2  of  the  order  of  B'nai  B'rith 
representing  the  States  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Kentucky,  Missouri, 
Michigan,  Tennessee,  Illinois,  and  Wisconsin  called  the  as 
sassination  "  a  futile  attempt  to  overthrow  the  grand  prin 
ciples  of  freedom  and  to  place  in  its  stead  anarchy  with  its 
attendant  misery."  The  Executive  Committee  of  the  Board 
of  Delegates  of  American  Israelites  resolved  that 


44 


The  Israelites  of  the  United  States  are  deeply  sensible  of  the 
loss  humanity  has  sustained  in  the  painful  death  of  the  lamented 
President;  that  the  loss  strikes  us  with  peculiar  solemnity  and 
significance  at  this  momentous  period  of  the  National  history 
when  we  behold  so  nigh  the  end  of  that  unhallowed  combination 
against  the  government  to  the  hastening  of  which  the  good,  the 
honest  Abraham  Lincoln,  contributed  so  largely,  and  with  all  the 
zeal,  the  sincerity  and  the  prudence  of  his  kind  heart,  his  clear 
practical  judgment,  his  steadfast  unfaltering  fidelity  to  the  Union. 

J.  H.  Montefiore,  President  of  London  Board  of  Deputies, 
wrote  a  letter  of  condolence  to  the  Hon.  Charles  Francis 
Adams,  the  American  Minister  in  London,  requesting  him  to 
convey  it  to  Mrs.  Lincoln  and  the  United  States  Government. 
In  the  House  of  Commons,  Benjamin  Disraeli  spoke  of  the 
President's  death  in  seconding  the  address  to  the  Crown. 

Jewish  citizens  in  several  of  the  seceded  States  also  joined 
in  paying  homage  to  the  deceased  President.  In  Kichmond, 
Va.,  Eev.  M.  J.  Michelbacher  of  the  Synagogue  Beth  Ahaba 
devoted  a  sermon  to  the  assassination  which  he  characterized 
as  a  most  horrible  crime  and  expressed  his  satisfaction  that 
it  had  not  happened  in  Richmond.  At  Memphis  the  military 
commander  of  the  Federal  forces,  having  assumed  control  of 
the  demonstrations,  two  Jewish  congregations  united  with 
other  denominations  in  a  joint  service  held  in  the  city  park, 
these  being  Congregations  Israel,  Eabbi  Tuska,  and  Beth  El, 
Eabbi  Joel  Alexander.  In  the  funeral  procession  in  that 
city  appeared  Euphrates  Lodge,  No.  35,  Order  B'nai  B'rith, 
with  its  entire  membership  of  167,  Samuel  Schloss  acting  as 
marshal.  Eev.  Dr.  Bernard  Illoway  addressed  the  Congrega 
tion  Shaarey  Chesed  of  New  Orleans.  The  Congregation 
Termini  Derech  of  New  Orleans  draped  their  synagogue  in 
mourning  and  was  addressed  by  Colonel  Philip  J.  Joachimsen 
of  New  York.  Citizens  of  all  classes  held  a  memorial  meeting 
in  Charleston,  S.  C.,  at  which  Governor  Aiken  presided. 
Samuel  Hart,  Sr.,  and  Benjamin  M.  Seixas  were  members  of 
a  Committee  of  Fifty  to  draft  resolutions.  Unmoved  by  this 


45 


touching  manifestation  of  a  fallen  foe  the  New  York  Tribune 
correspondent  at  Charleston,  S.  C.,  in  a  venomous  letter  to 
his  paper  assailed  the  majority  of  the  Committee  of  Fifty  as 
sympathizers  with  the  Confederate  cause,  Hart  and  Seixas 
being  with  others  specifically  designated  as  "  still  violent 
secessionists  at  heart." 

The  official  minutes  of  the  Lincoln  Monument  Association 
of  Springfield  record  among  the  very  first  contributors  to 
the  fund  the  "  Hebrew  Citizens  of  Alton,  111./'  followed 
shortly  thereafter  by  the  Hebrew  Congregation  of  St.  Joseph, 
Mo.,  and  the  Hebrew  Congregation  of  Philadelphia. 

Dr.  C.  H.  Liebermann,  a  practicing  physician  of  Washing 
ton,  was  one  of  the  nine  medical  men  at  the  death-bed  of 
Lincoln,  and  his  portrait  is  among  the  forty-seven  persons  in 
Alonzo  Chappel's  painting,  The  Last  Hours  of  Lincoln,  exe 
cuted  in  1867.  From  the  prospectus  of  a  steel-plate  engraving 
of  this  painting  we  learn : 

Lincoln's  family  physician,  Dr.  Stone  and  Surgeon-General 
Barnes  accompanied  by  assistant  Surgeon-General  Crane  were  in 
early  attendance,  and  later  he  was  visited  by  Doctors  Hall  and 
Liebermann,  and  other  eminent  physicians,  all  of  whom  agreed 
that  the  wound  was  unto  death. 

Numerous  contemporary  newspapers  referred  to  Dr.  Lieber- 
mann's  presence  on  this  occasion  and  his  name  is  mentioned 
in  various  books  treating  of  the  assassination.  Neighbors  of 
Liebermann  in  Washington  are  of  the  impression  that  he  was 
a  Jew,  although  unaffiliated  with  Jewish  organizations.  He 
was  born  in  Riga,  Eussia,  September  15,  1813,  and  died  in 
Washington,  March  27,  1886. 

The  flight,  pursuit  and  remorse  of  Lincoln's  assassin  have 
been  vividly  portrayed  by  Emma  Lazarus  in  a  poem  of  five 
stanzas  entitled  "  April  27th,  1865."  She  chose  for  her  title 
the  date  of  Booth's  capture  and  death,  inadvertently  given  a 
day  in  advance  of  the  actual  date.  These  verses  first  ap 
peared  in  1867  in  Poems  and  Translations  Written  between  the 


46 


Ages  of  Fourteen  and  Seventeen.  Owing  to  their  ambiguous 
title  their  existence  has  escaped  the  notice  of  most  students 
of  Lincoln. 

Inspired  by  the  death  of  Lincoln,  Judah  Eoswald  of  Balti 
more  wrote  a  poem  in  Hebrew  called  "Lincoln's  Amnesty," 
the  same  being  published  in  the  Jewish  Messenger  of  June  24, 
1865. 

In  its  issue  of  May  25,  1865,  this  journal  published  an 
appreciation  of  Lincoln  in  Hebrew  by  Isaac  Goldstein.  In 
translation  this  reads: 

ACROSTIC 
On  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN,  Assassinated  Nisan  18th,  5625. 

My  heart  overflows  with  a  good  speech.    I  address  my  work  unto 
a  king.    Psalms,  XLV.  2. 

I. 

Happy  art  thou,  Lincoln,  Who  is  like  unto  thee! 
Among  kings  and  princes  thou  art  exalted. 
Much  thou  did'st  with  an  humble  spirit. 
Thou  art  like  a  unique  person  in  the  land. 
Who  among  princes  is  like  Lincoln? 
Who  shall  be  praised  like  him? 

II. 

Thou  hast  also  a  name  among  heroes! 
Thy  right  hand  has  achieved  prowess  against  them. 
Thou  hast  girded  on  the  sword  of  the  slain. 
Thou  hast  drawn  the  bow  by  night  and  by  day. 
One  Father  has  created  us,  thou  hast  said; 
Therefore  thou  hast  proclaimed  Freedom  in  thy  land. 
The  black  people  thou  hast  redeemed  into  Freedom: 
Forever  they  will  praise  and  bless  thy  name. 

Who  among  princes   is  like  Lincoln,   and   who   can  be 
praised  like  him? 

ISAAC  GOLDSTEIN,  the  Levite. 

Eulogies  of  Lincoln  were  pronounced  by  the  rabbis  of 
many  synagogues,  and  some  of  these  were  printed  in  the 
Israelite,  the  Jewish  Messenger,  the  Occident,  and  daily  news- 


papers.     Of  these  eulogies  none  has  been  preserved  in  perma 
nent  form  with  the  exception  of  the  following : 

Liebman  Adler,  Address  (in  Fiinf  Reden),  Chicago,  1866. 

David  Einhorn,  Trauer  Rede,  Philadelphia,  April  19,  1865. 

Henry  Hochheimer,  Predigt,  April  19,  1865;  Fest-  und  Fasttag, 
Baltimore,  June  1,  1865. 

Sabato  Morais,  An  Address,  Philadelphia,  April  19,  1865;  A 
Discourse,  June  1,  1865. 

Benjamin  Szold,  Vaterland  und  Freiheit,  Baltimore,  June  1, 
1865. 

Philip  J.  Joachimsen,  An  Address,  New  Orleans,  April  29,  1865. 

Jonas  Bondi,  Trauer-Predigt,  New  York,  April  19,  1865. 

LINCOLN'S  CLEMENCY. 

No  phase  of  Lincoln's  administration  surpasses  in  interest 
the  chapters  dealing  with  the  appeals  to  executive  clemency. 
The  importunities  of  pardon  seekers  and  his  habitual  yield 
ing  to  their  entreaties  in  the  face  of  earnest  protests  gave 
rise  to  much  harsh  criticism,  but  this  rarely  swerved  him  from 
his  predetermined  course  of  action. 

An  exceptional  instance  of  Lincoln's  denial  of  a  pardon  was 
narrated  by  the  late  Eabbi  Benjamin  Szold,  of  Baltimore,  in 
the  case  of  a  Jewish  deserter  in  General  Meade's  army.  Stop 
ping  at  Washington  on  his  way  to  Eappahannock  station 
Eabbi  Szold  sought  an  audience  with  the  President  with  a 
view  of  obtaining  a  pardon  for  the  condemned  man.  Lincoln 
being  engaged  at  a  cabinet  meeting  at  the  time,  Dr.  Szold 
sent  in  his  Bible  with  the  passage  from  Deutoronomy  xx,  8, 
marked,  at  the  same  time  making  his  plea  for  the  soldier. 
Presently  the  President  emerged  with  the  Bible  in  hand, 
laughing  heartily,  "the  tears  rolling  down  his  cheeks,"  ac 
cording  to  an  account  of  the  visit  published  in  the  Baltimore 
Herald  May  24,  1896.  Several  other  soldiers  in  General 
Meade's  army, — Catholics  and  Protestants, — were  awaiting 
execution  at  this  time  for  a  similar  offence  and  the  President 
inquired  of  the  Eabbi  whether  he  was  interceding  for  the  Jew 
only  or  for  all  the  deserters.  Lincoln  refused  to  interfere 


48 


but  gave  Dr.  Szold  a  letter  to  General  Meade  asking  that 
every  courtesy  be  shown  the  bearer.  Meade  firmly  refused  to 
waive  the  death  penalty  on  the  ground  that  it  would  be  a  bad 
example  for  the  army  and  a  serious  precedent  for  the  future. 
More  fortunate  in  his  effort  to  save  the  life  of  a  Jewish 
deserter  was  Simon  Wolf,  of  Washington,  who  paid  a  midnight 
visit  to  the  President  for  that  purpose.  In  a  recent  address  in 
Baltimore  he  said : 

The  scene  when  I  called  upon  Mr.  Lincoln  is  indelibly  impressed 
on  my  memory  and  gave  evidence  of  the  luminous  spirit,  hu 
manity  and  charity  which  characterized  the  great  President. 
Deserters  at  that  period  were  numerous,  soldiers  were  needed  and 
stern  measures  were  demanded  to  preserve  discipline  in  the  deci 
mated  ranks  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  Secretary  Stanton 
and  the  Commanding  Generals  were  continually  complaining  of 
the  President's  leniency.  The  execution  in  this  instance  was 
fixed  for  the  following  day.  I  was  accompanied  by  "  Tom " 
Corwin,  the  distinguished  Ohio  statesman.  Mr.  Lincoln  listened 
patiently  to  the  pleadings  of  both  but  stood  firm.  At  last  I 
pleaded  with  him  on  lines  which  I  knew  he  could  not  resist.  The 
President  turned  in  his  chair  and  rang  a  bell.  The  Secretary 
answered  the  call  and  he  ordered  a  stay  of  execution.  The  young 
soldier  subsequently  led  the  forlorn  hope  at  the  battle  of  Cold 
Harbor,  and  fell  in  his  tracks  with  the  flag  of  his  country  wrapped 
around  him.  A  monument  to  his  memory  has  since  been  erected. 
When  I  subsequently  told  the  President  of  the  tragic  end  of  the 
boy  he  had  so  nobly  pardoned,  he  was  affected  to  tears.  And  this 
is  the  man  whom  a  partisan  press  denounced  as  a  "  baboon  "  and 
an  "  ignoramus." 

In  the  archives  of  the  War  Department  is  recorded  the 
remarkable  experience  of  David  Levy,  who  was  granted  a 
pardon  by  Lincoln  under  peculiar  circumstances.  Levy  in 
December,  1902,  applied  to  the  Pension  Bureau  for  a  pension, 
which  was  refused  on  the  ground  that  his  name  appears  on  the 
books  of  the  War  Department  as  a  deserter.  The  records 
show  that  Levy  first  enlisted  on  April  19,  1861,  in  the  16th 
Pennsylvania  cavalry,  serving  until  July  23,  1861,  when  he 
was  mustered  out.  He  again  enlisted  August  19,  1861,  and 


49 


deserted  February  22,  1863.  This  desertion  was  fatal  to  his 
claim  for  pension  under  the  Act  of  Congress,  and  he  was  so 
informed.  He  immediately  wrote  to  the  Bureau  that  he  was 
pardoned  for  that  desertion  by  President  Lincoln  and  as  evi 
dence  of  the  fact  he  forwarded  to  the  Pension  Office  a  small 
card,  such  as  Lincoln  habitually  used  in  the  course  of  his 
official  business,  whereon  was  written  in  his  well-known 
handwriting : 

If  David  Levy  shall  enlist  and  serve  faithfully  for  one  year 
or  until  otherwise  honorably  discharged  I  will  pardon  him  for 
the  past. 

Jan.  12,  1865.  A.  LINCOLN. 

Upon  receipt  of  this  Eugene  F.  Ware,  the  Commissioner  of 
Pensions,  ordered  that  the  pardon  be  recognized.  This  card 
Levy  subsequently  presented  to  Mr.  Ware,  who  is  now  its 
owner. 

In  the  Century  Magazine,  December,  1895,  may  be  found 
numerous  orders  of  Lincoln  in  reference  to  the  appeals  of 
pardon-seekers,  including  that  of  Abraham  Samuels,  arrested 
in  Virginia  in  the  fall  of  1864  while  trying  to  pass  through 
the  Union  lines  to  obtain  medical  supplies  for  the  Confederate 
army.  Samuel's  defense  was  that  he  "was  simply  trying  to 
escape  from  the  South."  The  matter  was  referred  to  Lincoln 
who  endorsed  the  papers  as  follows: 

It  is  confessed  in  this  case  that  Samuels  when  arrested  had  on 
his  person  a  paper  prima  facie  showing  that  he  was  going  North 
to  obtain  medical  supplies  for  the  rebels.  Will  the  officer  in 
conmmand  at  Fort  Monroe  please  give  him  an  opportunity  of 
trying  to  prove  that  this  was  not  his  real  object  and  report  the 
evidence,  with  his  opinion  on  it,  to  me? 

A.  LINCOLN. 

After  taking  considerable  testimony  the  President  on  De 
cember  10,  1864,  issued  this  order : 
Let  the  prisoner  Samuels  be  discharged. 

A.  LINCOLN. 

Diligent  research  fails  to  reveal  the  identity  of  Samuels. 
4 


50 


Of  exceptional  interest  was  the  arrest  and  imprisonment  in 
Washington,  1864,  of  Goodman  L.  Mordecai,  of  South  Caro 
lina.  He  was  the  son  of  Benjamin  Mordecai,  one  of  the  most 
prominent  citizens  of  Charleston,  and  was  then  in  his  26th 
year.  He  had  received  an  honorable  discharge  from  the  Con 
federate  Army,  and  had  been  an  occasional  contributor  to  the 
Southern  press.  Intending  to  visit  Nassau  in  the  interest  of 
a  prominent  blockade  company,  he  left  Eichmond  bound  for 
Washington,  fortified  with  passports  from  Judah  P.  Benjamin, 
and  the  city  authorities.  Eeaching  Washington,  he  was  arrested, 
and,  refusing  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance,  was  imprisoned 
for  several  months.  He  then  sent  for  Samuel  A.  Lewis,  an 
uncle  of  his  -fiancee,  Miss  Ada  Jackson.  Lewis  was  editor  of 
the  Hebrew  Leader,  and  Vice-President  of  Mt.  Sinai  Hospital, 
New  York.  He  also  appealed  to  Dr.  I.  Zacharie,  whose  close 
relations  with  Lincoln  will  be  referred  to  later  on,  who  took  im 
mediate  steps  for  his  release.  He  called  on  the  President  and 
successfully  accomplished  this  result.  In  return  for  this  act 
of  kindness  young  Mordecai  accompanied  his  benefactor  to  the 
White  House  to  thank  Lincoln  for  his  consideration.  De 
scribing  this  interview,  Mr.  Mordecai  told  the  writer : 

Zacharie  unconsciously  informed  Lincoln  that  I  had  fought 
against  the  Government  and  that  my  father  was  the  first  con 
tributor  to  the  Southern  Cause  having  been  a  subscriber  in  the 
sum  of  $10,000  soon  after  the  secession  of  South  Carolina.  The 
President  then  grasped  my  hand  and  answered:  "  I  am  happy  to 
know  that  I  am  able  to  serve  an  enemy."  My  release  followed,  on 
condition  that  I  would  not  return  to  the  South  during  the  war. 
Proceeding  to  New  York  I  found  myself  under  the  constant  sur 
veillance  of  the  Federal  detectives.  I  then  called  upon  General  Dix 
to  whom  I  showed  the  President's  order  for  my  release  which  he 
examined  with  care  and  at  once  dismissed  me,  remarking:  "  I 
bow  to  higher  authority!  " 

On  Lincoln's  birthday,  1901,  Mr.  Mordecai  contributed  to 
the  New  York  Tribune  a  detailed  account  of  his  arrest  and 
release,  which  was  printed  the  following  day.  In  the  article 


51 


he  ventured  the  statement  that  "  one  of  the  greatest,  grandest 
characters  in  history  was  Abraham  Lincoln." 

Lincoln's  course  in  this  case  occasioned  a  scandalous  edito 
rial  in  the  anti-administration  organ — the  New  York  World, 
of  September  24,  1864,  its  caption  being  "Mr.  Lincoln's 
Unionism  and  Bunionism."  Dr.  Zacharie  is  held  up  as  a  man 
who  had  been  courted  and  flattered  by  high  officials  because 
of  his  intimacy  with  the  President.  He,  it  alleges,  "  has  often 
left  his  business  apartment  to  spend  an  evening  in  the  parlor 
with  this  favored  bunionist."  Zacharie  is  said  to  have  "en 
joyed  Mr.  Lincoln's  confidence  perhaps  more  than  any  other 
private  individual."  The  World  broadly  intimates  that  Mor- 
decai's  release  was  obtained  for  a  consideration  and  suggests 
that  "there  must  be  a  reason  for  this  remarkable  intimacy 
between  an  obscure  toe-nail  trimmer  and  the  Chief  Executive 
of  a  great  nation." 

NOTEWORTHY  INCIDENTS. 

Several  noteworthy  incidents  marked  Lincoln's  visit  to  New 
York  when  en  route  to  Washington  on  February  19,  1861. 
Passing  down  Broadway  in  his  barouche  he  may  have  noticed 
the  establishment  of  Isador  Bernhard  and  Son  decorated  with 
a  banner  with  the  device :  "  Welcome  Abraham  Lincoln ;  we 
beg  for  Compromise."  The  same  night  at  the  Astor  House 
he  greeted  J.  Solis  Eitterband  of  the  New  York  bar,  President 
of  the  Young  Men's  Eepublican  Club  of  the  City  of  New  York, 
who  had  made  many  speeches  in  the  campaign,  marched  with 
the  "  Wide  Awakes  "  and  worked  enthusiastically  for  the  elec 
tion  of  Lincoln  and  Hamlin.  On  the  following  day  Lincoln 
was  officially  received  at  the  New  York  City  Hall  where  he 
was  welcomed  by  Mayor  Fernando  Wood.  An  impromptu 
reception  followed  in  the  course  of  which  the  Mayor  an 
nounced  the  presence  of  "  Mr.  Cohen  "  of  Charleston,  prob 
ably  J.  Barret  Cohen,  remarking  as  he  did  so  that  the  gentle 
man  was  "  outside  the  jurisdiction,"  bearing  in  mind  the  fact 


that  South  Carolina  had,  sixty-two  days  before,  passed  an 
ordinance  of  secession.  Whether  Mr.  Cohen's  visit  was 
prompted  by  admiration  or  curiosity  does  not  appear  in  the 
Tribune  account  of  the  presentation,  published  the  following 
day  (February  20,  1861).  At  any  rate,  Mr.  Lincoln  extended 
a  cordial  greeting  to  the  gentleman  from  South  Carolina, 
observing  as  he  did  so  that  "  the  matter  of  jurisdiction  makes 
no  difference  at  all/' 

Lincoln's  various  calls  for  troops  met  with  prompt  response 
from  the  Jews,  the  names  of  6000  of  that  faith  being  recorded 
by  Simon  Wolf  in  The  American  Jew  as  Patriot,  Soldier  and 
Citizen,  as  having  served  in  the  cause  of  the  Union.  The 
actual  number  serving  was  probably  double  that  figure. 
Numerous  appointments  and  promotions  in  the  military  ser 
vice  attest  Lincoln's  appreciation  of  the  services  rendered  by 
the  Jews. 

He  appointed  Major  Leopold  Blumenberg,  of  Maryland, 
Provost-Marshal  of  the  third  Maryland  District,  and  Presi 
dent  Johnson  subsequently  promoted  him  Brevet-Brigadier- 
General.  Edward  S.  Solomon,  a  lieutenant  in  an  Illinois 
regiment,  was  ultimately  brevetted  Brigadier-General  and 
commended  for  "the  highest  order  of  coolness  and  determi 
nation  under  very  trying  circumstances "  in  the  battle  of 
Gettysburg.  After  enlisting  as  a  private  in  an  Indiana 
regiment  Frederick  Knefler  rose  to  be  Brevet-Major-General, 
the  highest  rank  attained  by  any  Jew  in  the  Federal  Army. 
In  the  first  battle  of  Bull  Eun,  in  1861,  Colonel  Max  Einstein 
commanding  a  Pennsylvania  regiment  covered  the  retreat  of 
the  Union  Army,  and  was  subsequently  appointed  by  Presi 
dent  Lincoln  United  States  Consul  at  Nuremburg,  Bavaria. 
President  Lincoln  appointed  Adolph  A.  Mayer  of  the  Fourth 
New  Mexico  Volunteers  Inspector-General  of  Volunteers. 
Among  the  recipients  of  Medals  of  Honor,  authorized  by 
Congress  and  approved  by  President  Lincoln,  were  a  large 
number  of  Jewish  soldiers,  both  commissioned  and  non-com- 


53 


missioned  officers,  and  privates.  Colonel  Marcus  M.  Spiegel 
of  the  67th  Ohio  Infantry  had  been  recommended  for  promo 
tion  to  the  grade  of  Brigadier-General  but  died  of  wounds 
received  at  Vicksburg  before  the  appointment  could  be  made. 

Conspicuous  in  manifestations  of  loyalty  was  Uriah  P. 
Levy,  of  the  United  States  Navy,  the  owner  of  Monticello,  the 
former  home  of  Thomas  Jefferson.  Calling  on  Lincoln  at 
the  opening  of  the  war,  he  placed  his  entire  fortune  at  his 
disposal.  The  offer  being  declined,  he  subscribed  liberally  to 
the  war  loan.  Levy  died  March  22,  1862,  devising  a  large 
portion  of  his  estate  in  Virginia  and  the  city  of  New  York 
to  the  people  of  the  United  States,  for  the  maintenance,  at 
Monticello,  of  an  agricultural  school  for  the  children  of  de 
ceased  warrant-officers  of  the  United  States  Navy.  Mr.  Fes- 
senden  of  Maine,  in  a  speech  in  the  United  States  Senate 
shortly  after  Levy's  death,  estimated  the  value  of  the  property 
so  devised  at  $300,000.  The  constitutionality  of  this  bequest 
gave  rise  to  considerable  discussion  in  the  Senate.  Litigation 
resulted  in  a  reversion  of  the  property  to  Levy's  heirs  (see 
Levy  v.  Levy,  33  N.  Y.  Eeports,  97). 

A  touching  story  is  told  of  Lincoln's  visit  to  the  bedside  of 
a  dying  soldier  of  twenty-five,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Leopold  C. 
Newman  of  the  31st  New  York  Infantry.  Newman's  leg  had 
been  shattered  by  grapeshot  in  a  battle  near  Fredericksburg, 
Va.,  early  in  1863.  He  was  carried  to  the  National  Hotel,  in 
Washington,  where,  it  has  been  asserted,  Lincoln  called  to  see 
him  bearing  with  him  a  commission  as  Brigadier-General, 
Newman  died  shortly  afterwards. 

Mr.  Simon  Wolf,  in  his  The  American  Jew  as  Patriot,  Sol 
dier  and  Citizen  tells  this  incident,  his  authority  being,  so  he 
informs  the  writer,  a  soldier  of  Newman's  command  who  was 
present  at  Newman's  death.  Colonel  Frank  Jones,  Newman's 
superior  officer,  at  present  attached  to  the  War  Department, 
states  in  reply  to  this  that  he  has  no  knowledge  of  Lincoln's 
visit  or  of  Newman's  promotion,  nor  do  the  records  of  the 


54 

Department  show  any  such  promotion.  That  Newman's  ad 
vancement  was  at  least  contemplated  seems  quite  probable, 
inasmuch  as  there  appears  in  the  Israelite  of  July  3,  1863,  the 
statement : 

Had  Newman  recovered  he  would  have  received  his  Commission 
as  Brigadier  General  which  had  been  already  written  out  for  him. 

The  Occident  said  in  its  issue  of  September,  1864: 
One  Colonel  Newman  of  New  York  obtained  the  honorary  title 
of  Brigadier  General  after  he  was  mortally  wounded; 

and  in  reviewing  the  record  of  Jewish  soldiers  shortly  after 
the  close  of  the  war  took  occasion  to  say: 

We  do  not  believe  that  more  than  one  officer,  a  Lieutenant 
Colonel  when  wounded  was  promoted  to  a  Brigadier  General, 
just  before  his  death. 

Unfortunately  the  identity  of  the  officer  is  not  disclosed. 

Early  appreciation  of  Lincoln's  place  in  history  is  evidenced 
by  an  incident  at  a  festival  given  by  the  Jewish  women  of 
Pittsburg,  Pa.,  for  the  benefit  of  the  Sanitary  Commission  on 
December  9,  1863.  Inspired  by  the  recent  victories  at  Gettys 
burg  and  Vicksburg,  which  were  doubtless  regarded  as  har 
bingers  of  early  peace,  Jacob  Affelder  offered  the  following 
toast,  which  was  published  in  the  Israelite  a  few  days  later: 

Abraham  Lincoln,  the  noble  Pilot,  called  by  the  voice  of  the 
people  to  the  position  of  danger  and  responsibility,  when  trait 
ors'  hands  had  directed  the  ship  of  State  toward  the  breakers  of 
National  Destruction.  Nobly  has  he  buffeted  the  waves  of  Dis 
union,  until  now  with  the  assistance  of  Providence  and  our 
gallant  Army  and  Navy  he  has  brought  us  within  sight  of  our 
longed  for  peace.  His  name  will  be  synonymous  with  Patience, 
Honesty  and  Justice. 

President  Lincoln  was  evidently  in  good  humor  when 
visited  by  Mr.  Simon  Wolf  with  an  invitation  to  attend  the 
celebration  of  the  300th  anniversary  of  Shakespeare's  birth  in 
1864  by  the  Young  Men's  Literary  Association  of  Washing 
ton.  Captain  Isaac  N.  Gotthold  of  the  42d  New  York  In- 


55 


fantry  accompanied  him.  Mr.  Lincoln,  says  Mr.  Wolf,  was 
drinking  a  cup  of  coffee  when  the  two  called.  On  learning 
the  object  of  their  visit  he  said : 

"  Well,  boys,  what  are  you  going  to  play?  " 

When  he  was  told  "Hamlet,"  he  said: 

"  Why  could  I  not  be  the  grave  digger  of  the  evening;  for  am 
I  not  a  fellow  of  infinite  jest?  " 

"  Unfortunately,"  says  Mr.  Wolf,  "  the  President  could  not  come, 
but  he  sent  a  check  for  $25." 

For  the  purpose  of  introducing  abroad  certain  publications 
from  his  pen  bearing  upon  the  mineral  resources  of  the  United 
States,  Julius  Silversmith,  of  California,  an  eminent  metal 
lurgist,  sought  the  endorsement  of  President  Lincoln.  He 
presented  letters  of  introduction  from  Governor  James  W. 
Nye,  of  Nevada,  and  United  States  Senator  John  Conness,  of 
Oregon,  both  of  whom  assured  Mr.  Lincoln  that  Mr.  Silver 
smith's  mission  was  an  important  one,  likely  to  induce  a  large 
immigration.  They  further  stated  that  his  encouragement 
would  be  highly  appreciated  by  the  loyal  people  of  the  western 
side  of  the  continent.  Mr.  Lincoln,  while  not  to  be  swerved 
from  his  usual  policy  of  caution  in  dealing  with  strangers, 
endorsed  Governor  Nye's  letter  as  follows : 

Not  personally  knowing  Mr.  Silversmith  I  cheerfully  endorse 
what  Governor  Nye  says  of  him. 

A.  LINCOLN. 

April  30,  1864. 

.  On  the  letter  of  Senator  Conness  he  wrote : 

I  do  not  personally  know  Mr.  Silversmith  but  Senator  Conness 
who  writes  the  above  is  habitually  careful  not  to  say  what  he 
does  not  know. 

April  30,  1864. 

A.  LINCOLN. 

The  original  letters  above  quoted  are  in  the  possession  of 
the  Hon.  Simon  W.  Eosendale,  of  Albany,  N.  Y. 

Silversmith  lived  in  San  Francisco  for  some  years  before 
the  Civil  War.  In  the  directory  of  that  city  for  1858  his 


56 


occupation  is  given  as  "assistant  teacher  at  the  Emanu-El 
Institute."  During  1860-61-62  he  was  the  editor  and  pro 
prietor  of  the  Mining  and  Scientific  Press.  In  1866  he  wrote 
a  Practical  Rand-Book  for  Miners,  Metallurgists  and  Assay- 
ers,  which  is  recognized  as  a  standard  work  in  the  profession. 
Silversmith  died  in  Chicago  in  1894. 

To  Edward  Rosewater  belongs  the  distinction  of  having 
with  his  own  hands  transmitted  to  the  world  from  the  tele 
graph  office  of  the  War  Department  in  Washington  Lincoln's 
Emancipation  Proclamation  of  January  1,  1863.  He  met  the 
President  twice  that  day  and  in  the  evening  attended  a  ball 
at  the  White  House.  Rosewater  came  from  Bohemia  in  1854 
at  the  age  of  thirteen.  He  was  successively  peddler,  clerk 
and  bookkeeper.  At  the  age  of  eighteen  he  became  a  tele 
graph  operator.  In  the  Chicago  Tribune,  September  11,  1892, 
he  tells,  in  an  authorized  interview,  of  a  visit  of  the  President 
to  the  War  Department  on  December  13,  1862,  Rosewater 
being  the  only  telegraph  operator  on  duty.  General  Burn- 
side  was  at  this  time  preparing  to  attack  the  strongly  in 
trenched  army  of  Lee  at  Fredericksburg,  Va.  Lincoln, 
evidently  recalling  Burnside's  confessed  incompetency  to  com 
mand  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  as  expressed  to  himself  and 
others,  and  filled  with  forebodings  of  disaster,  went  to  the 
telegraph  office  in  his  slippers  at  8  a.  m.,  and  remained  there 
all  day.  Rosewater  did  all  the  telegraphing  for  him,  some 
by  dictation  and  some  from  notes.  The  President's  fears 
proved  well-founded,  Burnside's  force  of  100,000  men  being 
overwhelmingly  defeated  with  a  loss  of  over  10,000  killed  and 
wounded. 

Rosewater  was  attached  to  the  United  States  Military  Tele 
graph  Corps  1861-1863  and  transmitted  General  Pope's 
despatches  from  various  battlefields.  He  subsequently  became 
manager  of  the  Pacific  Telegraph  with  headquarters  in 
Omaha,  Neb.  Later  he  founded  the  Omaha  Bee,  which  he 
conducted  from  1871  to  the  time  of  his  death  in  1906. 

The  late  Myer  S.  Isaacs,  at  one  time  judge  of  the  Marine 


57 


Court  of  New  York  City,  attended  a  reception  at  the  White 
House  in  February,  1865.  He  was  accompanied  by  A.  S. 
Solomons  and  his  daughter  Zillah.  This  interesting  account 
of  what  he  saw  Mr.  Isaacs  wrote  for  the  Jewish  Messenger 
over  the  signature  "  M." 

The  President  kindly  assisted  in  the  welcome  and  entertain 
ment  of  the  lady  guests.  We  were  presented  and  cordially 
greeted,  Mr.  Lincoln  being  particularly  engaging  in  his  remarks 
to  the  little  daughter  of  the  gentleman  accompanying  me,  saying 
that  he  liked  to  see  the  children,  and  inquiring  their  names  and 
whether  he  had  seen  them  before.  He  is  by  no  means  so  awk 
ward  as  his  pictures  represent  him;  unusually  tall,  a  head  and 
shoulders  above  those  around  he  had,  of  course,  to  stoop  when 
speaking  to  most  of  his  visitors,  but  his  countenance  strongly 
expressive  of  good  nature  as  well  as  of  resolution,  an  index  of  his 
heart,  and  nobody  leaves  the  Executive  Mansion  without  being 
fascinated  by  the  kindly  amiable  bearing  of  the  President.  I 
was  particularly  struck  with  this,  and  in  the  demeanor  of  the 
numerous  visitors  of  humble  appearance,  private  soldiers,  widows 
and  other  relatives  of  unfortunate  or  distressed  members  of  the 
Union  armies,  whom  I  saw  congregated  in  the  ante-room  on  a 
subsequent  day  and  who  waited  with  patience  and  confidence 
their  turn  for  an  interview,  many  remaining  there  for  hours,  as 
the  President's  time  is  pretty  constantly  occupied,  and  all  satis 
fied  that  their  petition,  however  unimportant  to  others  than 
themselves,  would  receive  the  gentle  attention  of  the  Chief  Magis 
trate;  and  even  a  refusal  would  be  couched  in  such  kindly  and 
winning  language  that  their  love  and  confidence  in  his  goodness 
of  heart  would  be  diminished  not  at  all. 

With  the  passing  years,  Mr.  Isaacs  conceived  a  passionate 
admiration  for  Lincoln,  seizing  every  occasion  to  extol  his 
virtues  and  public  record.  As  evidence  of  his  earnestness  and 
enthusiasm  when  discussing  the  war  President  it  is  interesting 
to  note  his  indignation  when  the  New  York  Times,  shortly 
before  his  death,  proposed  the  abolition  of  the  Lincoln- 
Birthday  holiday  in  that  State  on  the  ground  that  it  was 
"  a  monument  to  legislative  folly."  This  proposition  elicited 
a  scathing  reply  to  the  offending  newspaper  (February  20, 
1903),  reading  as  follows: 


58 


His  unparalleled  career  from  the  modest  Kentucky  home  to 
the  White  House,  his  devotion  to  country  in  the  period  of  dire 
distress  and  danger,  his  tragic  taking  off,  his  immortal  deeds,  his 
trust  in  the  common  people,  the  lofty  place  he  occupied  among 
the  leaders  of  men  in  modern  times,  entitle  him  to  the  distinc 
tion  due  only  to  Washington  and  Lincoln — setting  apart  his  natal 
day,  for  the  study  and  appreciation  of  his  character  and  achieve 
ments,  the  inspiration  that  elevates  the  Nation,  the  lesson  of  a 
life  dwelt  upon  wherever  humanity  feels  sympathy  for  the  op 
pressed  and  downtrodden  and  honors  unselfishness  and  devotion. 

One  of  the  vast  army  of  civilians  attracted  to  Washington 
in  the  early  days  of  the  Civil  War  was  a  young  Englishman, 
Dr.  Isachar  Zacharie,  who  had  attained  considerable  celebrity 
as  a  skillful  chiropodist.  By  some  means  he  was  introduced 
to  Lincoln  and  very  friendly  relations  resulted,  their  intimacy 
going  so  far,  it  is  alleged,  that  Zacharie  was  entrusted  with 
confidential  missions  to  Savannah  and  New  Orleans,  being 
subsequently  sent  to  Eichmond  in  the  role  of  peacemaker,  a 
statement  which  should  be  accepted  cum  grano  salis. 

In  a  letter  to  his  wife,  dated  Fortress  Monroe,  September 
23,  1863,  Zacharie  notes  his  intention  of  leaving  the  following 
day  "for  Dixie,"  under  flag  of  truce;  for  what  purpose  does 
not  appear.  He  expresses  concern  about  his  reception  by  the 
people  of  the  South,  hopes  they  will  listen  to  him,  and  inti 
mates  that  he  may  be  long  absent.  Samuel  Zacharie,  a  son, 
accepts  this  letter  as  evidence  of  his  father's  visit  to  Eichmond 
on  behalf  of  President  Lincoln,  insists  that  he  had  interviews 
with  Jefferson  Davis  and  Judah  P.  Benjamin,  but  offers  noth 
ing  in  corroboration  of  his  actual  presence  in  Eichmond  or 
interviews  with  the  Confederate  leaders. 

Of  Dr.  Zacharie's  close  relations  with  Lincoln  there  is  little 
doubt.  Whether  these  went  beyond  the  bounds  of  professional 
intercourse  cannot  be  determined,  the  only  evidence  of  their 
acquaintance  being  a  document  in  the  handwriting  of  Lincoln 
now  in  the  possession  of  the  Zacharie  family  which  reads  as 
follows : 


59 


Dr.  Zacharie  has  operated  on  my  feet  with  great  success  and 
considerable  addition  to  my  comfort 

A.  LINCOLN. 
Sept.  2,  1862. 

Dr.  Zacharie's  strong  foothold  in  political  and  social  circles 
in  the  National  Capital  was  the  subject  of  a  column  editorial 
in  the  New  York  Herald,  October  3,  1862,  under  the  caption 
"  The  Head  and  Feet  of  the  Nation."  Zacharie  is  described  as 

A  wit,  gourmet  and  eccentric,  with  a  splendid  Roman  nose, 
fashionable  whiskers  and  eloquent  tongue,  a  dazzling  diamond 
breast-pin,  great  skill  in  his  profession  and  an  ingratiating  ad 
dress,  a  perfect  knowledge  of  his  business,  and  a  plentiful  supply 
of  social  and  moral  courage. 

Secretary  Stanton,  it  adds,  was  unable  to  resist  such  a  com 
bination  of  eloquence  when  Zacharie  called  to  see  him  with  a 
proposition  to  treat  the  feet  of  the  soldiers  and  he  even  pro 
posed  the  raising  of  a  corps  of  chiropodists  to  accompany  the 
various  armies.  "  Prior  to  that,"  says  the  Herald,  "  he  had 
trimmed  the  feet  of  President  Lincoln  and  all  his  Cabinet." 
After  the  war  Dr.  Zacharie  resumed  the  practice  of  his  pro 
fession  in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  subsequently  in  London. 
In  England  he  founded  a  branch  of  Free  Masonry,  known  as 
the  Order  of  the  Secret  Monitor,  in  which  he  wielded  much 
influence.  He  died  in  London  in  1897,  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
two,  his  death  being  extensively  noticed  by  the  American  press, 
special  prominence  being  given  to  his  relations  to  Lincoln. 

One  of  Lincoln's  ardent  admirers  was  a  South  Carolinian, 
Septima  M.  Collis,  the  daughter  of  David  C.  Levy,  later  a 
Philadelphia  banker.  She  contracted  a  romantic  marriage 
with  Charles  H.  T.  Collis,  captain  of  an  Independent  Com 
pany  known  as  the  Zouaves  d'Afrique,  of  Philadelphia,  and 
accompanied  him  to  the  front,  her  experience  being  recorded 
in  a  little  volume  A  Woman's  War  Record.  Being  presented 
to  President  Lincoln,  while  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  was  on 
the  Eappahannock,  she  was  struck  by  his  curious  attire.  She 
wrote: 


60 

He  wore  a  dress  suit,  his  swallow  tail  coat  being  a  terrible  mis 
fit,  and  it  puzzled  me  very  much  to  tell  whether  his  shirt  collar 
was  made  to  stand  up  or  turn  down — it  was  doing  a  little  of  both. 

Another  Jewess  who  recorded  her  impressions  of  Lincoln 
was  Rose  Eytinge,  the  actress.  Accompanied  by  Wallack  and 
Davenport  she  went  to  the  White  House  in  response  to  an 
invitation  from  the  President,  who  had  witnessed  their  per 
formance.  In  her  Memoirs  she  makes  the  following  record  of 
this  visit: 

When  I  was  presented  to  the  President  he  took  my  hand,  and 
holding  it  while  he  looked  down  upon  me  from  his  great  height 
said:  "  So  this  is  the  little  lady  that  all  us  folks  in  Washington 
like  so  much!  "  Then  with  a  portentous  shake  of  his  head  but 
with  a  twinkle  in  his  eye,  he  continued,  "  Don't  you  ever  come 
around  here  asking  me  to  do  some  of  those  impossible  things  you 
women  always  ask  for,  for  I  would  have  to  do  it  and  then  I  would 
get  into  trouble." 

At  a  social  function  Miss  Eytinge  relates  she  met  Secretary 
Seward  by  whom  she  was  not  favorably  impressed  because  "  he 
was  stately,  cold  and  dignified,  whereas  she  found  Lincoln 
simple,  warm-hearted  and  free  spoken." 

President  Lincoln's  entry  into  Richmond  in  1865  was  wit 
nessed  by  Sir  Moses  Ezekiel  the  eminent  sculptor,  a  native 
resident  of  that  city,  who  had  served  in  the  Confederate  Army. 
The  then  budding  artist  recognizing  the  President's  presence 
in  Richmond  as  an  historic  event,  made  at  this  time  a  close 
study  of  Lincoln.  This  enabled  him  some  thirty-five  years 
later  to  execute  for  Nathaniel  Myers  of  New  York  a  striking 
bust  of  the  great  Emancipator. 

NOTE. — Additional  data  on  the  subject-matter  of  this  monograph, 
not  now  accessible,  are  reserved  for  a  future  publication. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 
BERKELEY 

Return  to  desk  from  which  borrowed. 
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2    JAN  194 

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